Washington Post: Climate scientists have repeatedly found that if the global average temperature is kept from exceeding 2 °C over the preindustrial average, then many of the most significant effects of global warming will likely be avoided. However, according to a new study of the emissions-cutting pledges made in December 2015 by the 195 nations that gathered in Paris, those pledges are not going to be enough to keep global warming below the 2 °C threshold. Led by Joeri Rogelj of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria, the researchers found that the pledged cuts will more likely limit the temperature increase to between 2.6 °C and 3.1 °C by 2100. According to the analysis, by 2030 humans will probably have released the maximum amount of emissions that could have limited warming to 2 °C.
