Scientists have warned against letting our global temperatures increase by 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial age – but what happens if it actually happens?
What happens if, despite our best attempts to avoid it, global temperatures actually do increase by 1.5°C?
That’s compared to the average temperatures our planet enjoyed in the pre-industrial era – which was a long time ago for humans, but in terms of the world, it was a blink of the eye.
Our activity and dependency on a carbon-spewing way of life means Earth has been hotting up at a ridiculous rate since then, as emissions heat up the atmosphere.
The 2015 Paris climate agreement saw countries vow to try and stop temperatures exceeding the 1.5°C mark, but a big question mark hangs over whether we can actually achieve that.
The highest average so far is around 1.28°C above pre-industrial levels – so we’re not exactly far off.
And scientists from the World Meteorological Organisation warned in May 2023 that the........