‘Crunch time' for climate as scientists issue urgent global warning
From carbon pollution to sea-level rise to global heating, the pace and level of key climate change indicators were all in uncharted territory, more than 60 top scientists warned on Thursday.
Greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels and deforestation hit a new high in 2024 and averaged, over the last decade, a record 53.6 billion tonnes per year - that is 100,000 tonnes per minute - of CO2 or its equivalent in other gases, they reported in a peer-reviewed update.
Earth last year likely
breached the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold above pre-industrial levels for the first time. The additional CO2 humanity can emit with a two-thirds chance of staying under that threshold long-term - our 1.5-degree 'carbon budget' - will be exhausted in a couple of years, they calculated.
Investment in clean energy outpaced investment in oil, gas and coal last year two-to-one, but fossil fuels account for more than 80 per cent of global energy consumption, and growth in renewables still lags behind new demand.
Greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels and deforestation hit a new high in 2024. File photo: AP
Included in the 2015 Paris climate treaty as an aspirational goal, the 1.5-degree limit has since been validated by science as necessary for avoiding a catastrophically climate-addled world.
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‘Crunch time' for climate as scientists issue urgent global warning
From carbon pollution to sea-level rise to global heating, the pace and level of key climate change indicators were all in uncharted territory, more than 60 top scientists warned on Thursday. Greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels and deforestation hit a new high in 2024 and averaged, over the last decade, a record 53.6 billion tonnes per year - that is 100,000 tonnes per minute - of CO2 or its equivalent in other gases, they reported in a peer-reviewed update. Earth last year likely breached the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold above pre-industrial levels for the first time. The additional CO2 humanity can emit with a two-thirds chance of staying under that threshold long-term - our 1.5-degree 'carbon budget' - will be exhausted in a couple of years, they calculated. Investment in clean energy outpaced investment in oil, gas and coal last year two-to-one, but fossil fuels account for more than 80 per cent of global energy consumption, and growth in renewables still lags behind new demand. Greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels and deforestation hit a new high in 2024. File photo: AP Included in the 2015 Paris climate treaty as an aspirational goal, the 1.5-degree limit has since been validated by science as necessary for avoiding a catastrophically climate-addled world.
