London, Jan 23 (PTI) Global temperatures are likely torise more than the targets set by the Paris Agreement within afew decades if immediate action to limit carbon emission rateis not taken, a study warns.
Researchers found that Earth's global average temperatureis likely to rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the periodbefore the industrial revolution within the next 17-18 years,and to 2 degrees Celsius in 35-41 years respectively.
Through their projections, researchers advise thatcumulative carbon emissions needed to remain below 195-205petagrammes of carbon (PgC) from the start of 2017 to delivera likely chance of meeting the 1.5 degrees Celsius warmingtarget while a 2 degrees Celsius warming target requiresemissions to remain below 395-455 PgC.
"Immediate action is required to develop a carbon-neutralor carbon-negative future or, alternatively, prepareadaptation strategies for the effects of a warmer climate,"said Philip Goodwin from the University of Southampton in theUK.
"Our latest research uses a combination of a model andhistorical data to constrain estimates of how long we haveuntil 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2 degrees Celsius warmingoccurs," said Goodwin, author of the study published in thejournal Nature Geoscience.
"We've narrowed the uncertainty in surface warmingprojections by generating thousands of climate simulationsthat each closely match observational records for nine keyclimate metrics, including warming and ocean heat content," headded.
"This study is important by providing a narrower windowof how much carbon we may emit before reaching 1.5 degreesCelsius or 2 degrees Celsius warming," said Ric Williams fromthe University of Liverpool in the UK.
"There is a real need to take action now in developingand adopting the new technologies to move to a more carbon-efficient or carbon-neutral future as we only have a limitedwindow before reaching these warming targets," said Williams.
The researchers had earlier evaluated a single equationconnecting global warming to the amount of carbon emitted,warning of the detrimental effects of the nearly irreversiblenature of carbon emissions for global warming.
The latest research reinforces their previous conclusionsthat "the more cumulative carbon emissions are allowed toincrease, the more global surface warming will also increase."PTI MHNMHN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.