Will global warming continue even after we hit net-zero emissions? - New Scientist
Will global warming continue even after we hit net-zero emissions? | New Scientist
When will global warming end? It is unclear Lukas Schulze/Getty Images
When will global warming end? It is unclear
Lukas Schulze/Getty Images
The longer it takes to reach net zero, the greater the risk that global warming will continue for decades or millennia even after we have cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to an assessment by climate researchers.
This means we may have to emit even less carbon dioxide than we thought if we want to limit warming to, say, 2°C, making carbon budgets even smaller than current estimates.
“The timing at which we reach net zero is also key,” says Roland Séférian …
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.