The initiative of over 190 nations paved the way to the foundation of the Paris Agreement Climate Agreement last year. Signed by their presidents or representatives, the 195 participating nations all agreed to cut down their greenhouse gas emissions and develop cleaner energy sources in order to achieve an ambitious goal of limiting the increase in global temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius.
The Paris Climate Agreement
The Paris Climate Agreement was created within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). So far, the agreement is signed by 195 members, with 158 of those already ratified it.
As per the agreement, each participating country will develop plans to mitigate the negative effects of climate change.
The United States entered the Paris agreement under the Obama administration. However, the country’s participation in the agreement was recently withdrawn by the current president, Donald Trump.
Scientifically unfeasible
The ultimate goal of the agreement is necessary if people want to preserve the planet. However, a new study by the University of California-Santa Barbara and the University of Washington revealed that the global temperature goals of the Paris Agreement might not be scientifically possible.
The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, showed that there’s only a less than one-percent chance that the increase in global temperature will not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius.
On the other hand, the likelihood of the global temperature increasing by more than two degrees Celsius is about 95 percent.
Using the combination of statistical, scientific and economic data from 1960 to 2010, the researchers estimate that there would be two to 4.9 degrees Celsius increase in global temperatures over the next 80 years.
Desperate times call for extreme measures
Climate scientists often blame population growth for climate change. However, the new study suggests that the so-called carbon intensity is the major contributing factor in climate change. Carbon intensity, or the measure of carbon dioxide per unit of gross domestic product, may rise for a while but will start to decline once it reaches its peak.
Despite the current downward trend of carbon intensity, the researchers pointed out that Earth is still in trouble and the only way to save the planet is finding a way to make carbon intensity fall much more quickly than ever before.
The researchers also proposed two extreme solutions for the climate problem. The first one is to wait for some scientific breakthrough or major technological advances, including innovations in battery power or safer nuclear power.
The second solution involves putting a high price on pollution. The researchers suggest that governments could charge major companies or even ordinary individuals when they are polluting. The high price tag of pollution may lessen Greenhouse Gas Emissions if reinforced accordingly.
