Way Off Track!

World temperature records were 'obliterated' in 2023. COP28 is due to start in the United Arab Emirates. The United Nations (UN) has warned that the planet is currently on track for a 'hellish' 3 degrees Centigrade of global heating (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/20/world-facing-hellish-3c-of-climate-heating-un-warns-before-cop28). Given the level of science understanding evident amongst world leaders, one must fear that some movers and shakers regard 3 degrees as being only marginally worse than 1.5. One point five degrees Centigrade above pre-Industrial levels was specified in the 2015 Paris Accord. This was a 'guesstimate' of the highest 'safe' level of temperature increase that could be tolerated. 'Safe', that is, before catastrophic climate change renders much of the Earth uninhabitable by humans. It's certainly not the case that 3 degrees will be only twice as bad as 1.5. The UN says we need record reductions in 'greenhouse gas' emissions. Even then, there's a lot of heating 'still in the pipeline'.