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5 - Runaway Tipping Points of No Return

from Part I - Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2023

Simon Sharpe
Simon Sharpe
Affiliation:
World Resources Institute, London
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Summary

Important parts of the Earth’s climate and environment can change in ways that are self-reinforcing, sudden, and irreversible. The risks of such changes are under-researched, under-reported in what is communicated by scientists to governments, and underestimated. In the most authoritative science assessments, the most important policy question of all – whether the climate will be stable at low degrees of warming – is hardly even raised.

Keywords

Tipping pointsFeedbacksIrreversibilityUncertaintyIgnoranceUnderestimationRisk
Type
Chapter
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Five Times Faster
Rethinking the Science, Economics, and Diplomacy of Climate Change
 , pp. 45 - 58
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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