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Publications and Reports

Global Warming of 1.5 °C

Description

This report was drafted by the IPCC following the invitation 'to provide a Special Report in 2018 on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways’ contained in the Decision of the 21st Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to adopt the Paris Agreement.

The report finds that limiting global warming to 1.5ºC would require rapid, farreaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society, e.g. land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities. With clear benefits to people and natural ecosystems, limiting global warming to 1.5ºC compared to 2ºC could go hand in hand with ensuring a more sustainable and equitable society.

The report highlights a number of climate change impacts that could be avoided by limiting global warming to 1.5ºC compared to 2ºC, or more. For instance, by 2100, global sea level rise would be 10 cm lower with global warming of 1.5°C compared with 2°C. The likelihood of an Arctic Ocean free of sea ice in summer would be once per century with global warming of 1.5°C, compared with at least once per decade with 2°C. Coral reefs would decline by 70-90 percent with global warming of 1.5°C, whereas virtually all (> 99 percent) would be lost with 2ºC.

Limiting global warming would also give people and ecosystems more room to adapt and remain below relevant risk thresholds. 

The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC was approved by the IPCC on 8 October 2018 in Incheon, Republic of Korea. It will be a key scientific input into the Katowice Climate Change Conference in Poland in December 2018, when governments review the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change.

Reference information

Source:
IPCC

Published in Climate-ADAPT Nov 14 2018   -   Last Modified in Climate-ADAPT Dec 12 2023

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