Rich nations’ climate targets will mean global heating of 2.4C – study

Rise is a 0.2C improvement on previous forecast but still substantially above goal of Paris climate agreement

New climate targets announced by the US and other rich nations in recent weeks have put the world on track for global heating of about 2.4C by - the end of the century, research has found.

That is a 0.2C improvement on the previous forecast of 2.6C, but still substantially above the Paris goal of holding temperature rises to no more than 2C above pre-industrial levels, with an aspiration to limit heating to 1.5C.