Tag Archives: 2.0°C

A Matter of Degrees

Efforts to highlight the significant dangers of global warming do not
seem to be successful. Levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal cause, have combined with methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) to speed the increase, despite decades of warnings. Global
temperatures are rising, scientists are desperately trying to focus
our attention on the seriousness of the problem, and despite
international pledges, national targets, corporate promises and
individual efforts, little of significance has been accomplished.
Significant strides in renewable energy sources have been made,
however much of this added power is not replacing fossil fuels but
supplementing them. The International Energy Agency has predicted that oil consumption could peak about 2030. We have made some progress by averting the worst of the worst future climate possibilities. But humanity has now surpassed the 1.5°C first target of temperature rise proposed in the Paris Agreement of 2015, and the pre-eminent American climate scientist, James Hansen, was prescient enough even a year ago to declare the 2.0°C target “dead”. (The Guardian Weekly, February 4. 2025).

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Call for Wind & Solar in Canadian Cities as Average Global Temperatures Rise

There have been thousands of scientific studies warning about global warming, but one of the most chilling is a new report advocating the adoption of a combined rooftop solar and wind turbine energy in Canadian cities. Professors You Wu and Lexuan Zhong from the University of Alberta aren’t warning anyone about climate change. They base their projections on the assumption global temperatures could rise to 2.°C above pre-industrial levels in as little as fifteen years and to 3.5°C sometime between 2070 and 2090.

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The Quadra Project: Uninhabitable – Part 1

A global temperature review of 2024 confirms the trend that has been so concerning to climatologists. The last 10 years have been the warmest on record, and 2024 has been the warmest yet. The European Copernicus calculation measured 2024 as 1.6°C above the pre-industrial temperature, with most days being above the 1.5°C aspirational target set by the Paris Agreement (COP21) in 2015. Other organizations measured a slightly different temperature for 2024: NASA at 1.47°C, NOAA at 1.46°C, and Berkley Earth at 1.62°C. The differences are technical but the trend is the same. Global temperatures are rising in concert with our greenhouse gas emissions.

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Global Average Temperatures Of Select Nations: A Report Card

While the world has already reached the threshold of a 1.5°C increase in global temperatures, many scientists believe it is still possible to get back on track. According to the 2023 UN Emissions Gap Report, this would require a 42% cut in our emissions. It would take a 28% reduction to keep emissions below 2.0°C by the end of this century. A tool on the Berkeley Earth website shows each nation’s emissions in 2022, their current trajectory by 2100 and where it could be if all net zero pledges are met. 

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On the Threshold of a 1.5°C World

While there is some disagreement as to whether we have crossed the 1.5°C threshhold set at COP 21 in Paris, scientists agree that we are on the brink and 2024 was the hottest year on record.

At COP 29 last November, Jim Skea, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) explained, “Children born today will not know a world without climate change. The IPCC has shown that we, and furthermore they, will live in a world marked by more intense storms, exceptional heatwaves, devastating floods and droughts, a world where food chains are disrupted, and where diseases reach new countries.”

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