The challenge of long-term climate change
Prof. Mojib Latif
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and University of Kiel
Dec. 15, 2020, 4:45 p.m.
on-line
The Earth has experienced a global surface warming of just above 10C since the beginning of industrialization and humankind is responsible through the emission of vast amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2). The present CO2concentration is unprecedented during the last few million years and the rise has continued this year despite the coronavirus pandemic. Although there has been a large consensus in the climate research community about the cause of global warming for many years, global greenhouse gas emissions have increased by about 60% since 1990. Humankind is following a worst-case scenario with global warming of about 40C by the end of the century should CO2-emissions continue to rise unabatedly, which would be a disaster for the planet. Former US President Barack Obama said in 2015 at the opening of the Paris Climate Conference “For I believe, in the words of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., that there is such a thing as being too late. And when it comes to climate change, that hour is almost upon us”.
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