Climate endgame: risk of human extinction ‘dangerously underexplored’

Climate scientists warn that the risk of global societal collapse or human extinction has been "dangerously under explored".

Such a catastrophe is called the Climate Endgame. They said that even though it had a small chance of happening, it could not be ruled out.

The scientists said that facing a future of accelerated climate change while blind to worst-case scenarios was foolish.

The experts argue that the world needs to prepare for the possibility of a climate end game. They saidalysing the mechanisms for extreme consequences could help galvanise action, improve resilience, and inform policy.

The researchers said that the exploration of the nuclear winter in the 1980s led to public concern and efforts to get rid of nuclear weapons. famine, extreme weather, war and disease are included in the research agenda proposed by the analysis.

They wanted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to make a report on the issue. They said the report on the effects of just 1.5C of heating caused a lot of public concern.

The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge led the analysis and said there are many reasons to believe that climate change could become catastrophic. Every mass extinction event has been affected by climate change. It has helped the fall of empires.

Disasters are not limited to the effects of high temperatures. Financial crises, conflict and new diseases could cause other disasters.

The analysis was reviewed by a group of scientists after it was published. The consequences of global heating beyond 3C have been underexamined. Kemp said that they don't know much about the scenarios that matter most.

The scientists said that a risk assessment would consider how risks spread and interact. This is how risk happens in the real world. A population is vulnerable to a deadly heatwave when electrical infrastructure is destroyed by a storm. They said that the Covid pandemic underscored the need to examine rare but high impact global risks.

When a small rise in global temperature results in a big change in the climate, such as huge carbon emissions from an Amazon rainforest, it's concerning. They said that tipping points could lead to cascades, such as the loss of the cloud decks that could cause 8C of global warming.

Climate breakdown could cause other catastrophic risks, such as international wars or infectious disease Pandemics, and worsening existing vulnerabilities such as poverty, crop failures and lack of water. The right to emit carbon and the right to reflect sunlight may one day be at odds with the powers that be.

There is an overlap between vulnerable states and future areas of extreme warming. A belt of instability with potentially serious ramifications could occur if political fragility does not improve.

Scientists said there were more reasons to be concerned about the potential of a global climate catastrophe. Each of the five mass extinction events in Earth's history has been caused by climate change.

2 billion people could be affected by extreme heat if carbon emissions continue, according to new modelling.

Around 30 million people in the Sahara and Gulf Coast are affected by such temperatures. Two nuclear powers and seven maximum containment laboratories housing the most dangerous pathogens will be affected by these temperatures by 2070. There is a high chance of disastrous effects.

The current trend of greenhouse gas emissions will lead to a rise in temperature by the year 2200. The range is 1.9- 3C if pledges of action are fully implemented. It would take 1.7- 2.6C of warming for all targets to be achieved.

Scientists said that even optimistic assumptions lead to dangerous Earth system trajectory. The rise of human civilization over the past 10,000 years has caused temperatures to rise more than 2C above pre-industrial levels.

The more we learn about how our planet works, the more concerned we are. Our planet is a more delicate and sophisticated one. In order to avoid disaster, we need to do the math.