The timing is brutal. Just as the world celebrates the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Paris climate agreement this month, new evidence shows that the world is crashing through the main defence that was constructed against climate catastrophe.

The three-year temperature average is – for the first time – set to exceed the Paris guardrail of 1.5C above preindustrial levels. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2025 will join 2023 and 2024 as the three warmest since the Industrial Revolution, reflecting the accelerating pace of the climate crisis.

As temperatures continue to rise – including in the oceans, where the extra heat fuels more powerful hurricanes – far greater catastrophes lie ahead as feedback loops push the planet past irreversible tipping points.

We have already passed our first tipping point, the progressive loss of warm-water coral reefs, on which nearly a billion people and a quarter of marine life depend; a development particularly relevant to island countries like Barbados. We are on the brink of several more, including the death of the Amazon rainforest, the collapse of key ocean currents, and the loss of ice sheets leading to metres of sea level rise.

Cutting methane emissions is the fastest and simplest way to slow near-term warming and prevent triggering more........

© The Guardian