The 1.5°C goal is not just a number. It is a line in the sand, drawn by the international community to signal the point beyond which it determines the risks to be unacceptable.
With the global temperature already having increased by 1.45°C, the World Meteorological Organization has warned that it is likely to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels temporarily within the next five years. Even at 1.2°C of warming, we are already experiencing severe climate impacts: melting ice caps, rising sea levels, extreme weather events, droughts, floods, and fires. These changes are affecting billions of people, particularly those in the most vulnerable and marginalised communities. As the planet continues to warm, these risks will intensify, potentially leading to cascading and irreversible impacts.
The members of the Climate Overshoot Commission came together to reassess a range of approaches to minimise the heightened risk of overshoot, including mitigation, adaptation, carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and solar radiation modification (SRM). Join the panel as they discuss the Commission's CARE Agenda and how the Commission offers an integrated approach 1) to reduce the risks of breaching global warming goals in the first place, and 2) to reduce the risks brought about by an overshoot should it take place. That is why it considers all the potential tools in the toolbox, including those that were unfamiliar when the Paris Agreement was negotiated.
Panel:
- Pascal Lamy, Chair, Climate Overshoot Commission & former Director General, World Trade Organization
- Kim Campbell (audio only), Commissioner, Climate Overshoot Commission & former Prime Minister of Canada
- Dr Alex Clark, Youth Engagement Group Representative, Climate Overshoot Commission
- Professor Michael Obersteiner, Director, Environmental Change Institute
- Professor Sir Charles Godfray, Director, Oxford Martin School (Chair)
This is a joint event with the Environmental Change Institute.