There is wide agreement among climate researchers today that our emissions of greenhouse gases are affecting the Earth's radiation balance. Temperatures are rising and it will get even warmer, but there is still some uncertainty about how big the effect will be.
For several reasons it is difficult to determine a precise level of greenhouse gases that nature can “cope with”. It is also uncertain how the climate system will react to these emissions, but we are learning more and more about how nature is affected when the climate changes.
Whatever the case it is apparent that to avoid extreme negative effects to humans and ecosystems all over the world there must be a sharp decline in emissions of greenhouse gases very soon. There is wide agreement that global mean temperature should not increase more than 1.5°C over the preindustrial level.
To meet that target with a reasonable degree of confidence, global emissions of greenhouse gases will need to be cut by almost half by 2030, if warming is to be limited to 1.5°C, according to the 2023 assessment reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
In this section (see right hand column) you can learn more about expected effects, emissions of greenhouse gases, possible ways of reducing them, and political developments. Find what you can also do at a personal level to help reduce emissions!
