Study: Glasgow agreement could prevent global warming by more than two degrees Study: 5G mobile communication grows faster than expected in Western Europe

According to a new international study, current climate agreements can prevent global warming of more than two degrees. However, further efforts are needed to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees.

The research team examined the commitments of 120 countries at the 2021 Glasgow climate conference (COP 26), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), which was involved in the study, announced Wednesday. The results have been published in the journal “Nature Climate Change”. In addition to the Swiss researcher, researchers from Spain, Greece, Great Britain, Norway and Austria were also involved.

The scientists’ results relate to three different scenarios. If the countries were to continue their climate policies from before COP26, a warming of 2.1 to 2.4 degrees can be expected, according to the study.

Need longer term goals

In the second scenario, in which the countries pursue the new climate targets agreed in Glasgow up to 2030, the temperature rise would be somewhat lower at 2.0 to 2.2 degrees.

However, if the countries also meet their longer-term net-zero goals, the researchers expect a temperature increase of less than two degrees (1.7 to 1.8 degrees).

To arrive at these results, the scientists used a host of new simulations to estimate how countries’ adherence to the plans might affect them by the end of the century.

But as the researchers in the study admit, it is often unclear whether such reductions can be made economically, socio-politically, and not least technically. (sda)