EXPERT COMMENT
The Paris Agreement target was meant to help avoid future climate impacts that are now arriving. If the 1.5°C degree target is breached, the world will need a different approach.
The target of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels has been a totemic threshold ever since the 2015 Paris Agreement, indicating whether climate change is within manageable limits, whatever the political rhetoric.
In June 2023, the global temperature temporarily passed the threshold, with heatwaves, wildfires and flooding affecting every part of the world.
With COP28 approaching, scientists, journalists, and politicians are proclaiming either ‘keep 1.5 alive', ‘1.5 is dead', or 'every fraction of a degree matters'.
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