World is on a Path to 4 degree Celsius Warming, World Bank Warns

On Sunday, the World Bank released a study – Turn
Down the Heat: Why a 4⁰C Warmer World Must Be Avoided – that says the
world is on a path to increase the average global temperature by 4⁰C by end of
the century– that is double what scientists say is safe in order to avoid the
most catastrophic climate-related events.

“The
world is barreling down a path to heat up by 4 degrees at the end of the
century if the global community fails to act on climate change, triggering a
cascade of cataclysmic changes that include extreme heat-waves, declining
global food stocks and a sea-level rise affecting hundreds of millions of
people,” the World Bank described in a press released on Sunday.

“A
4 degree warmer world can, and must be, avoided – we need to hold warming below
2 degrees,” World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim stated in a press
release.  “Lack
of action on climate change threatens to make the world our children inherit a
completely different world than we are living in today. Climate change is
one of the single biggest challenges facing development, and we need to assume
the moral responsibility to take action on behalf of future generations,
especially the poorest.”

Sea-level rise is among the many consequences described in
the report. According to the study’s climate projections, .5 meter to 1 meter
sea-level rise is likely by 2100, with higher levels in specific regions. Present-day
sea-level dynamic topography could put developing countries in the Indian
subcontinent and Southeast and East Asia at most risk, areas that already
experience above-average sea level rise. While there is no definitive link “between
present-day dynamic topography and the future sea-level rise under climate
warming,” those regions are experiencing greater coastal and urban migrations, which
could make them more vulnerable to future sea-level rise. “Highly vulnerable
cities are to be found in Mozambique, Madagascar, Mexico, Venezuela, India,
Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam,” the study found.

read more

www.cnas.org