As the planet heats up, tundras are thawing, wetlands are fermenting, and forests are succumbing to larger and more frequent wildfires.
As the planet heats up, tundras are thawing, wetlands are fermenting, and forests are succumbing to larger and more frequent wildfires. The breakdown of these natural systems is unleashing huge volumes of emissions, further intensifying warming from the burning of fossil fuels. According to new research, such feedback loops could amplify human-driven warming by 20 to 30 percent.
Even if humans reach net zero emissions later this century, feedbacks would add another 0.2 degrees C of warming, according to the modeling study, published this week in Environmental Research Letters. And if the world fails to reach net zero, and countries continue to produce some residual emissions through the end of this century, the added warming would be closer to 0.4 degrees C.
The world is already 1.4 degrees C hotter than in the preindustrial era, and fossil fuel emissions continue to grow, putting the Earth on course to surpass 2.5 degrees C of warming this century, scientists say, well in breach of international climate targets. And yet, while the added warming from feedback loops will further hasten the rise in temperatures, emissions from the breakdown of natural systems are largely absent from the most influential climate models, those that inform climate negotiations.
Read More: Yale Environment 360
Photo Credit: Ylvers via Pixabay
