Time to debate the two degrees target

A new paper explores how policy makers can work with the uncomfortable knowledge that the prospects for holding average global warming to below two degrees Celsius are rapidly decreasing. They identify for the first time key uncertainties, risks and opportunities associated with alternatives to the two degree target of international climate policy, published in the peer-reviewed journal Climate Policy. The likelihood that the two degree target will not be achieved was again suggested by the results of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) science report published 27 September. It showed that the world’s ‘carbon budget’ - the amount of greenhouse gas that can be emitted without exceeding two degrees warming - could be used up entirely by 2040.