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Science and policy characteristics of the Paris Agreement temperature goal

Abstract

The Paris Agreement sets a long-term temperature goal of holding the global average temperature increase to well below 2 °C, and pursuing efforts to limit this to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. Here, we present an overview of science and policy aspects related to this goal and analyse the implications for mitigation pathways. We show examples of discernible differences in impacts between 1.5 °C and 2 °C warming. At the same time, most available low emission scenarios at least temporarily exceed the 1.5 °C limit before 2100. The legacy of temperature overshoots and the feasibility of limiting warming to 1.5 °C, or below, thus become central elements of a post-Paris science agenda. The near-term mitigation targets set by countries for the 2020–2030 period are insufficient to secure the achievement of the temperature goal. An increase in mitigation ambition for this period will determine the Agreement's effectiveness in achieving its temperature goal.

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Figure 1: Projected impacts at 1.5 °C and 2 °C GMT increase above pre-industrial levels for a selection of indicators and regions.
Figure 2: GMT projections for emission scenarios assessed by the IPCC54 and UNEP68.
Figure 3: Absolute contribution of bioenergy to total primary energy supply in literature scenarios with below 3 °C of warming relative to pre-industrial levels by 2100.
Figure 4: Characteristics of below 2 °C and 1.5 °C pathways.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the work by IAM modellers that contributed to the IPCC AR5 Scenario Database and the World Climate Research Programme's Working Group on Coupled Modelling, which is responsible for CMIP. We thank the climate modelling groups for producing and making available their model output, and the International Institute for Applied System Analysis for hosting the IPCC AR5 Scenario Database. For CMIP, the US Department of Energy's Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison provided coordinating support and led development of software infrastructure in partnership with the Global Organization for Earth System Science Portals. We would like to thank the modelling groups that participated in the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP) and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research for hosting the database. The work was supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (11_II_093_Global_A_SIDS and LDCs), within the framework of the Leibniz Competition (SAW-2013-PIK-5), from EU FP7 project HELIX (grant no. FP7-603864-2) and by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; grant no. 01LS1201A1). J.R. received funding from the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 642147 (CD-LINKS).

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C.F.S, J.R., M.S. and W.H. led the writing of the paper with significant contributions from all authors. C.F.S, J.R., M.S. and W.H. designed the manuscript structure and content. C.F.S., J.R. and M.S. carried out the analysis presented and produced the figures.

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Correspondence to Carl-Friedrich Schleussner.

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Schleussner, CF., Rogelj, J., Schaeffer, M. et al. Science and policy characteristics of the Paris Agreement temperature goal. Nature Clim Change 6, 827–835 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3096

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