The 1.5°C limit means we can avoid the worst of the climate crisis
The IPCC Special Reports SR1.5 and SR Land are clear: limiting global warming to 1.5°C is crucial to avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. Compared to 2°C of warming, a 1.5°C limit would significantly reduce the severity of extreme events—for example, mid-latitude heat waves would be, on average, 1°C cooler. It would also lessen disruptions to human and ecological systems, with 158 million fewer people affected by changes in crop yields.
Keeping warming below 1.5°C would mean substantially fewer people facing water scarcity, food insecurity, and extreme poverty. While this goal remains within reach, achieving it requires immediate and rapid action. Stringent emission reductions must take place in the very near term to cut projected 2030 CO2 emissions by half.
To stay on a 1.5°C pathway, CO2 emissions must peak immediately and reach net zero by mid-century, with total greenhouse gas emissions following suit in the second half of the century. The time to act is now.
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The 1.5°C limit means we can avoid the worst of the climate crisis
The IPCC Special Reports are clear: limiting global warming to 1.5°C is crucial to avoiding the worst impacts of climate change.
IPCC 6th Assessment Report 2023
There are multiple, feasible, and effective options available now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change.
IPCC: Current Status and Trends 2023
Human activities, primarily greenhouse gas emissions, have unequivocally caused global warming.
The greenhouse gases
Greenhouse gases contribute to climate warming by allowing short-wave solar radiation to pass through the atmosphere while trapping heat radiated from the Earth's surface.
Climate change impacts
Climate change is reshaping ecosystems, economies, and communities across the globe.
Global climate targets
In 2015, governments adopted the Paris Climate Agreement, committing to “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.”
Global climate and energy scenarios
Limiting warming to 1.5°C is still possible but requires urgent action—emissions must be halved by 2030, and reach net zero by 2050.
EU climate policy
Under the Paris Agreement, the EU has set a target of cutting emissions by 55% by 2030.