Climate change seen turning deadly by 2100

Global temperatures will increase by an average of 6 degrees C by the end of the century as CO2 emissions continue to outstrip the ability of the world's natural "sinks" to absorb carbon, a group of scientists said Tuesday in calling for drastic action to combat such emissions.

By studying 50 years of data on carbon emissions, an international team of 30 climate specialists with the Global Carbon Project deduced that the natural sinks soaking up dangerous greenhouse gases are becoming less efficient, absorbing 55 percent of the carbon now, compared with 60 percent half a century ago.

Carbon emissions from fossil fuel rose 2 percent in 2008, year-on-year, to an all-time high of 8.7 billion tons, leaving Earth on a worst-scenario tract for global warming, the report said.

"The only way to control climate change is through a drastic reduction in global CO2 emissions. The global trends we see with CO2 emissions from fossil fuels suggest that we're heading toward 6 Celsius of global warming," said Corinne Le Quéré of the University East Anglia, who led the study with colleagues from the British Antarctic Survey.

According to the "A1F1" scenario by the United Nation's Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Earth's surface will warm by around 4 degrees C by 2100, compared with 2000, a rise that would likely bring widespread hunger, flooding, drought and home-lessness.

via globaltimes.cn

Posted via web from Global Warming News