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Climate ChangeThe 1.5-degree line

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Climate Change

The 1.5-degree line

The long-term warming of the planet caused by trapped gases.

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1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures is the threshold beyond which feedback loops speed up. Ice melts, which exposes dark ocean, which absorbs more heat, which melts more ice. The loop feeds itself. The planet is at about 1.2 degrees. The remaining budget is a few hundred billion tonnes of CO2. The number drops every year.

  • At 1.5 degrees, coral reefs decline by 70 to 90%. At 2 degrees, they decline by over 99%.
  • The Paris Agreement (2015) set the 1.5-degree target. Nearly every country signed it.
SourceIPCC Special Report on 1.5°C (2018)
Paris Agreement (2015)

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