CarbonBrief article highlights that the increase to 2C rather than stabilizing at 1.5C has severe impacts on the melting of permafrost.
The cost of allowing global temperature to rise to 2C, rather than capping warming at 1.5C, is an area of permafrost the size of Mexico, according to new research.
The article features a study that links the commitments in the Paris Agreement to permafrost melting.
The study, carried out by a team of scientists from Sweden, Norway and the UK, is the first to work out what the ambitious targets contained in the Paris Agreement mean for permafrost loss. While warming of 2C would ultimately see permafrost-covered land shrink by more than 40%, stabilising at 1.5C would “save” approximately 2m square km, says the new study. The paper, published in Nature Climate Change, warns that thawing permafrost unlocks large amounts of CO2 and methane, which could potentially be released to the atmosphere.
Link to full article here