Even 1.5°C Won't Save Us Without Centuries of Carbon Removal
Here’s an uncomfortable truth the Paris Agreement doesn’t really grapple with: even if we hit 1.5°C and hold there, the damage keeps piling up. Two new studies from IIASA (the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Vienna), published in Environmental Research Letters, lay out just how long the carbon removal commitment needs to last. The answer? Centuries. The Lag Problem Sea-level rise doesn’t stop when temperatures stabilize. Neither does permafrost thaw. These are slow-moving processes with enormous inertia — think of a supertanker that keeps drifting long after the engines are cut. ...