In 2015, a report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that the world was headed towards 3.7 to 4.8 degrees Celsius of warming if stronger actions were not taken to cut emissions. This level of increased temperature (as much as nearly 9 degrees Fahrenheit) was described as being incompatible with an organized, equitable, and civilized global community. In short, the consequences would be dire.
Over the past decade, reducing emissions has become more practical because of dramatic drops in the cost of clean energy. The price of onshore wind has fallen 70%, while prices for solar energy and battery energy storage have fallen by about 90%.
A recent analysis by the Rhodium Group, a climate think tank, predicts that emissions from the power sector will drop in half by midcentury. As a result, the world now appears to be headed for a 2.3-to-3.4-degree Celsius rise in temperatures.
This is certainly progress but is not what the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement set as a goal. The Paris Agreement sought to keep warming to below 2 degrees and, if at all possible, below 1.5 degrees.
The international scientific community warns that current efforts to stem climate change remain insufficient and that the warming is already pushing the planet into dangerous new territory.
In the meantime, the United States has pulled out of international efforts to combat climate change and is encouraging other nations to do the same. This is taking place even though avoiding every additional fraction of a degree of warming is increasingly important.
