Short-Lived Pollutants Also Must Be Cut to Keep Warming to 1.5 Degrees

"Short-lived climate pollutants like methane released from oil and gas fields and black carbon from diesel engines are many times more powerful than carbon dioxide but don't last as long in the atmosphere."

"Countries won't be able to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, considered by some scientists and policymakers to be the "safe" limit of climate change, without immediate and rapid reductions in a wide range of greenhouse gases, not just carbon dioxide, according to a new United Nations report.

The report, released Oct. 8 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, sums up the research into how 1.5°C of warming will affect the world and how global warming can most effectively be stopped.

The planet has already warmed about 1°C since the start of the industrial era, and that's likely to reach 1.5°C between 2030 and 2052 if emissions continue at their current rate, the IPCC says. It describes how recent warming has been accompanied by a trend toward more intense and frequent climate, temperature and weather extremes, and how those risks will rise with the temperature."

Phil McKenna reports for InsideClimate News October 7, 2018.

Source: InsideClimate News, 10/09/2018