"In October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.1 It's not a pretty picture. The IPCC reports that this temperature increase will be reached sometime between 2030 and 2052—and the 1°C increase since the year 1850 occurred in 2017. Much of that warming has taken place over the last several decades. The key points of the report are that warming to 1.5°C by mid-century will have substantial adverse impacts, but these impacts will be less severe than if we permit a global warming increase of 2.0°C over pre-industrial levels during the same time period (the goal set in the Paris Agreement). The report urges that the difference of 0.5°C will make a very significant difference for humans and all life on the planet. If we can limit warming to 1.5°C with massive reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, and sustain those reductions through to the end of the century, then the models predict that we could prevent irreversible physical dynamics and devastating consequences for human populations, other life forms on the planet, and ecosystems. ..."

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