UN climate panel to explore 1.5-degree warming goal
The U.N.'s scientific panel on climate change will write a special report on how to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial times.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change agreed Thursday to explore the issue after a request by world governments in Paris last December.
Many scientists say it will be virtually impossible to keep warming below that level without removing vast quantities of heat-trapping greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
Temperatures have already risen almost 1 degree C (1.8 F) since humans started burning fossil fuels—the biggest source of greenhouse gases—on an industrial scale in the 19th century.
Meeting in Nairobi, the IPCC also said it will release its sixth assessment of global warming in 2020-2022.
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