Study shows we need massive cuts in carbon emissions, now!

Smokestacks billowing into the air are almost
as clichéd at polar bears on a shrinking
 iceberg, but they do, it's imagined, have
some similar purchase on human emotions.

If the world hopes to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change, humanity must emit less than half the carbon dioxide than previously thought in the coming years, a new study shows.

In order to keep global warming to no more than 2°C (3.6°F) — the basis for the Paris climate agreement struck last year — scientists have devised a “carbon budget” for how much carbon can be emitted before warming crosses into catastrophic territory.

Their estimates range from about 590 gigatons (1 gigaton is 1 billion metric tons) to 2,390 gigatons. Global carbon dioxide emissions were about 40 gigatons in 2015, which means under the best case scenario, the carbon budget would be exhausted after 60 years and humans would have to completely stop emitting carbon dioxide. 

Read the Climate Central story by Bobby Magill - “Study Calls For Leaner ‘Carbon Budget’ to Slow Warming.”