Most climate scientists predict that temperature increases will exceed the goals of the Paris Agreement

A new survey of climate experts reveals that most believe the Earth is headed for a global temperature rise well above the 2015 Paris Agreement target of 1.5C to well below 2C. The study was published in Communications Earth & Environment . It also shows that two-thirds of respondents – all authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – believe we can achieve net zero CO2 emissions in the second half of this century ₂ . That suggests some optimism that mitigation efforts can begin to bend the emissions curve toward what would be needed to meet the Paris temperature target.

Most also recognized the potential for atmospheric CO removal ₂ , with the median response indicating the belief that this technology could remove up to five gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (GtCO) by 2050 ₂ ) annually. This is at the lower end of the expected range. necessary to meet the Paris goals. (Patrick Lejtenyi, Concordia University, more at phys.org)