When almost 200 nations signed the Paris climate agreement in 2015, they pledged to keep Earth's average temperature to no greater than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Now a recent study in the journal Nature Climate Change reveals that the 1.5 degree threshold is effectively out of reach at this point, and 1.6 degrees is the best humanity can likely hope to achieve. Climate change is spiraling out of control and emissions from burning fossil fuels aren't dropping fast enough. The researchers arrived at this conclusion after modeling different emission scenarios through 2023, one that included "alternative scenarios with institutional, geophysical and technological feasibility constraint."
