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Climate response

Strong warming at high emissions

The ratio of global temperature change to cumulative emissions is relatively constant up to two trillion tonnes of carbon emissions. Now a new modelling study suggests that the concept of a constant ratio is even applicable to higher cumulative carbon emissions, with important implications for future warming.

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Figure 1: Global annual mean surface temperature changes as a function of cumulative carbon emissions based on the RCP8.

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Correspondence to Thomas L. Frölicher.

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Frölicher, T. Strong warming at high emissions. Nature Clim Change 6, 823–824 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3053

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