While the world is going through an exceptional heat wave and successive cyclones has punished Brazil, a clock projected this Saturday (22) on the Christ the Redeemer statue, in Rio de Janeiro, marks a tight deadline: 5 years and 364 days. This is the threshold for adopting substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst scenarios of climate change.
"This is the critical threshold, the point beyond which the consequences will be catastrophic for nature and humanity", explains Natalie Unterstell, president of the Talanoa Institute, focused on regulation and climate risks, who is leading the campaign in Brazil.
She explains that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), linked to the UN (United Nations), has calculated that the atmosphere was able to absorb, since 2020, about 400 gigatons (Gt) of CO2 and for us to remain below the safe limit of 1.5°C increase in world temperature. "With current CO2 emissions estimated at 42.2 Gt per year – equivalent to 1,337 tonnes per second – at a constant level, this 'carbon budget' will be depleted in less than six years from now.
Translated by Cassy Dias