Climate researcher Mojib Latit: ‘The point of no return has not yet been reached’

Despite alarming reports of increasingly frequent heat waves, wildfires and storms, German climate researcher Mojib Latif does not believe the fight against global warming is hopeless. It is assumed that the “point of no return” has not yet been reached.

The professor at the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Kiel told the German Press Agency (dpa) in Berlin.

“It would still be possible to limit global warming to the level set in the Paris climate agreement – that is, to well below 2 degrees compared to pre-industrial times, preferably to 1.5 degrees,” says the climate researcher. Latif was responding to warnings from UN Secretary-General António Guterres. He had said climate change was “out of control”.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has calculated that to meet the 1.5 degree target, global emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases must fall by 48 percent in 2030 and by 80 percent in 2040 compared to 2019.

The planet is currently warming about 1.1 degrees. Latif said: “The effects such as heat, drought and heavy rains are already catastrophic in many parts of the world.” Last year was the warmest summer in Europe since measurements began, with tens of thousands of heat-related deaths.

Regarding the currently extremely high temperatures in the world’s oceans, including the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, Latif said: “On the one hand, warming is putting pressure on marine ecosystems. On the other hand, warming is leading to a decrease in oxygen levels in the oceans. And there is a risk that the oceans will absorb less of the CO2 that humans emit into the atmosphere, resulting in accelerated global warming.”

In addition, water expansion associated with warming contributes to sea level rise, the researcher said. Higher temperatures also lead to a higher rate of evaporation, making more energy available in the atmosphere and making extreme weather events more frequent and intense. (sda/apa/dpa)