• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • FAQ
  • Meet the Team
  • About The London Economic
  • Advertise
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
NEWSLETTER
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News Environment

Paris climate targets could be exceeded sooner than expected

the rise in global temperatures means previously year-round frozen soil is melting faster than thought

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
September 17, 2018
in Environment, News, Science

Paris climate targets could be exceeded sooner than expected as key emissions from melting permafrost are included in forecasts for the first time.

The new study explained that the rise in global temperatures means previously year-round frozen soil is melting faster than thought.

Permafrost is soil frozen for at least two years and as a result stores large amounts of carbon and other nutrients from organic matter.

It represents a large carbon reservoir, scientists at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria said.

RelatedPosts

Daily Mail claim to expose Labour mole behind Greensill affair

Hugh Grant trends after BBC News report trip to bakery

Police put out an appeal for the ‘Big Cheese’ – social media reacts

Brits worse hit by Covid because of inequality and low welfare support

As it melts it releases the built up CO2 but these emissions are rarely considered in projections of potential future global warming – even though it eventually becomes irreversible.

The new study has for the first time comprehensively accounted for permafrost carbon release when estimating emission budgets for climate targets.

The results show that the world might be closer to exceeding the budget for the long-term target of the Paris climate agreement than previously thought.

Emissions budgets represent the upper limit of CO2 emissions associated with keeping below a specific global average temperature.

Until now, the efforts of policymakers to remain below dangerous levels of warming have been almost solely focused on the linear rise in CO2 emissions due to human activity and the global temperature.

Dr Thomas Gasser, a researcher with the IIASA Ecosystems Services and Management Programme said: “Permafrost carbon release from previously frozen organic matter is caused by global warming, and will certainly diminish the budget of CO2 we can emit while staying below a certain level of global warming.

“It is also an irreversible process over the course of a few centuries, and may therefore be considered a ‘tipping’ element of the Earth’s carbon-climate system that puts the linear approximation of the emission budget framework to the test.”

The study also shows that the effect can become even more significant for overshooting trajectories, which means first exceeding the targeted level, and then going back down to the target.

The Paris Agreement explicitly acknowledges an overshooting trajectory, peaking first at ‘well-below’ 2°C and then pursuing efforts to get back to 1.5°C.

But during the overshooting period rising temperatures will lead to further permafrost carbon thaw.

Dr Gasser said: “Overshooting is a risky strategy and getting back to lower levels after an overshoot will be extremely difficult.

“However, since we are officially on an overshooting trajectory, we have to prepare ourselves for the possibility that we may never get back to safer levels of warming.

“Policymakers should understand that there is no elementary proportionality between cumulative CO2 emissions due to human activity and global temperature, as previously believed, and that overshooting may have serious consequences.”

The study was published in Nature Geoscience

 

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending fromTLE

  • All
  • trending

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

Stress, fear and homelessness: The threat looming over families confronted with eviction

File photo dated 07/11/03 of a prison cell.

The Other Prison Pandemic

Latest from TLE

Image by AdobeStock

Weather forecast, alerts and UVB index for London, Monday 19 April 2021

Lucky Numbers and Horoscopes for today, 19 April 2021

Angry Gary Neville leads backlash to ‘criminal’ Super League plans

Daily Mail claim to expose Labour mole behind Greensill affair

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: jack@thelondoneconomic.com

Commercial enquiries, please contact: advertise@thelondoneconomic.com

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech & Auto
  • About The London Economic
  • Meet the Team
  • Privacy policy

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.