Emissions Need to Be Reduced 70% to Avert Worst of Climate Change

from The Tech Herald:

Scientists at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, have concluded that cuts in CO2 of at least 70 percent in this century are necessary to avert the dramatic consequences of a warming planet.

NCAR researchers have said that, if such a reduction in greenhouse gases were possible, symptoms such as the loss of Arctic ice, permafrost and large-level sea rise could be avoided.

"This research indicates that we can no longer avoid significant warming during this century," says NCAR scientist Warren Washington, lead author of the study. "But if the world were to implement this level of emission cuts, we could stabilise the threat of climate change and avoid catastrophe."

Research has shown that any additional global increase in temperature above around a single degree in Centigrade (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) could prove to be a dangerous "tipping point" for the Earth's climate.

Using models from supercomputer studies, scientists at NCAR ran projected studies based on the assumption that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere could be held to levels of 450 ppm (parts per million) by the end of this century.

According to an NCAR statement: "The team's results showed that if carbon dioxide were held to 450 ppm, global temperatures would increase by 0.6 degrees C (about 1 degree F) above current readings by the end of the century."

"In contrast, the study showed that temperatures would rise by almost four times that amount, to 2.2 degrees C (4 degrees F) above current readings, if emissions were allowed to continue on their present course," the study concluded.