What You Need to Know About The Critical Climate-Tipping Points





Climate tipping points are the parts of Earth’s system that, sensitive to minor shifts in global temperature, might become irreversible. The critical threshold the IPCC sets for this is an 1.5°C increase — but they don’t just click on like a switch once that is crossed. They are already beginning. There’s a local climate crisis in every country, and these are the tipping points that we are pushing beyond no return.

Part of this current, the Gulf Stream, warms northward, then sinks to the ocean floor, releasing heat into the air. It helps maintain mild temperatures in Europe while curbing a quarter of fossil fuel emissions. The energy it transports equals the power of 1,000,000 average-sized nuclear plants.

As the Arctic ice melts, the ocean gains freshwater, weakening the flow. A weakened AMOC could bring colder temperatures from Spain to Scandinavia, higher sea levels along the U.S. East Coast, fiercer European storms, and altered agriculture patterns. Papers estimate it could stop at warming between 3 and 5.5 ºC (5.4 and 9.9ºF). By the century’s end, we’re projected to reach 2.7 to 3.1ºC (4.9 to 5.6ºF) warming. According to research in Nature, the Atlantic circulation already carries 15% less water than mid-20th century levels.