Only two years left of world’s carbon budget to meet 1.5C target, scientists warn

Breaching threshold would ramp up catastrophic weather events, further increasing human suffering

The planet's remaining carbon budget to meet the international target of 1.5C has just two years left at the current rate of emissions, scientists have warned, showing how deep into the climate crisis the world has fallen.

Breaching the target would ramp up the extreme weather already devastating communities around the world. It would also require carbon dioxide to be sucked from the atmosphere in future to restore the stable climate in which the whole of civilisation developed over the past 10,000 years.