The Maximum Climate Ambition Needs a Firm Research Backing. Nature Nature, 537(7622):585–586, September, 2016.
doi  abstract   bibtex   
We need to know what the 1.5 °C warming target will involve – even if we don't reach it. [Excerpt] [...] The 2015 Paris climate agreement commits governments to keeping average global surface temperatures to between 1.5\,°C and 2\,°C above the preindustrial level. But warming has already passed the 1-degree mark, and some estimates suggest that even if current commitments are fully implemented, they would allow temperatures to rise nearly 3\,°C. If the 2-degree goal seems implausible, given current politics, 1.5\,°C is very nearly inconceivable. [] Nevertheless, countries calling for more aggressive action – often those that have contributed the least to the problem and now have the most to lose – pushed for the 1.5\,°C IPCC assessment. The deadlines are tight: scientists around the world now have roughly a year to run their models and submit papers to bolster the scarce body of literature surrounding the 1.5-degree goal. The IPCC will present its assessment in 2018, just before UN negotiators hold their first major meeting to assess progress under the Paris agreement and presumably to discuss ways to hasten action. [...]
@article{natureMaximumClimateAmbition2016,
  title = {The Maximum Climate Ambition Needs a Firm Research Backing},
  author = {{Nature}},
  year = {2016},
  month = sep,
  volume = {537},
  pages = {585--586},
  issn = {0028-0836},
  doi = {10.1038/537585b},
  abstract = {We need to know what the 1.5 \textdegree C warming target will involve -- even if we don't reach it.

[Excerpt] [...] The 2015 Paris climate agreement commits governments to keeping average global surface temperatures to between 1.5\,\textdegree C and 2\,\textdegree C above the preindustrial level. But warming has already passed the 1-degree mark, and some estimates suggest that even if current commitments are fully implemented, they would allow temperatures to rise nearly 3\,\textdegree C. If the 2-degree goal seems implausible, given current politics, 1.5\,\textdegree C is very nearly inconceivable.

[] Nevertheless, countries calling for more aggressive action -- often those that have contributed the least to the problem and now have the most to lose -- pushed for the 1.5\,\textdegree C IPCC assessment. The deadlines are tight: scientists around the world now have roughly a year to run their models and submit papers to bolster the scarce body of literature surrounding the 1.5-degree goal. The IPCC will present its assessment in 2018, just before UN negotiators hold their first major meeting to assess progress under the Paris agreement and presumably to discuss ways to hasten action. [...]},
  journal = {Nature},
  keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-14148626,anthropic-feedback,anthropocene,anthropogenic-impacts,climate-change,environmental-policy,global-scale,global-warming,science-policy-interface,science-society-interface},
  lccn = {INRMM-MiD:c-14148626},
  number = {7622}
}

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