The Paris climate agreement is an agreement where most nations around the world decided or pledged that they would try and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees or at the very least below 2.0 degrees. That is generally viewed by scientists as a realistic target if we want to avoid the very worst consequences of climate change. So I would say that if we can limit warming to below 2.0 degrees, ideally 1.5 degrees, compared to what we call the pre-industrial temperatures, before there was the industrial revolution around the world. Now how long will that take is a very very important question but one that’s quite tricky. I think the consensus among the scientists is that we have to act now. The next 10 years are going to be really crucial. There are some countries who are committing to what we call net zero so their emissions of carbon dioxide are zero by 2050. So that’s the kind of target that we are looking as if we can take action now we can limit warming to 1.5 degrees and we should be able to avert the worst consequences. So we still have time to address climate change but were going to have to be very quick and take action now – Professor Chris Stokes, Durham University.
