NGO warns: “Icy plains around the world are in danger” | environment

The research was published by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and suggests that only radical reductions in greenhouse gas emissions can prevent irreversible consequences for the global cryosphere. The cryosphere is the parts of the Earth that are covered by ice and snow for at least part of the year.

The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement set an upper limit on temperature rises at 2 degrees, but the United Nations said earlier this week that international climate action is insufficient to achieve that goal. “What we have learned about the cryosphere since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015 makes clear that 1.5 degrees is not only better than 2 degrees, it is the only possible option,” the report notes.

“If warming reaches 2 degrees Celsius, the melting of the ice caps will lead to a significant, perhaps rapid, and irreversible rise in ocean levels,” the report authors warn. “The world will also see a significant loss of glacial ice, with some disappearing completely,” he added.

The authors fear that sea ice is the most damaged part of the cryosphere, and the Arctic Ocean may become ice-free every summer. The Arctic waters would then absorb more heat from the 24-hour summer sun, accelerating the melting of the permafrost and causing the Greenland ice sheet to melt more quickly.

The publication of the report, which was reviewed by dozens of international scientists, comes days after the United Nations warned that the world is failing to control the climate crisis.