French researchers forecast more intensified global warming

(EurActiv, 18 Sep 2019) According to new forecasts, the target laid out in the Paris Climate Agreement of 1.5 degrees Celsius could be out of reach, while temperature increases might even reach 6 or 7°C by 2100. EURACTIV France reports.

The latest climate forecasts made by several French scientific bodies reveal a rather alarming situation: current forecasts are a little too optimistic in relation to the reality of global warming.

According to models from the Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute (IPSL) and France’s National Meteorological Research Centre, our planet, in the worst-case scenario, could warm up to 6 or even 7°C by 2100.

However, at best, the situation is also alarming. If the planet achieves carbon neutrality by 2060, which is far from certain, then global warming will reach 1.9°C, as opposed to less than 1.5°C.

In an intermediate scenario, where the planet would reach carbon neutrality by 2080, the increase would be 2.6°C.

“None of our models allow us to consider an increase of temperature limited to 1.5°C, but other models predict this,” said Olivier Boucher, head of the climate modelling centre at  CNRS, the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

In the scientific community, the 1.5°C target appears increasingly unattainable. And climatologists are now increasingly reluctant to mention a “business as usual” scenario, simply because it no longer exists.

External link

EurActiv, 18 Sep 2019: French researchers forecast more intensified global warming