Once done ...

The Climeworks AG Mammoth carbon removal plant in Hellisheidi, Iceland, on May 8th, 2024.  

Photo: Getty Images

Have said this for years regarding climate change, once done, it's done. We have passed 1.5 C while fossil fuel use continues to rise. As stated before, the only real change will happen when a catastrophe of biblical proportions occurs. In this case, India looks like a real possibility, or possibly Pakistan, as high temps and humidity point toward web bulb territory, a most frightening scenario for any country and its people to face as man moves further into the 21st century.

Tech companies think they can reverse climate change with fancy new tools to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. But new research throws cold water on the idea that cooling the planet after it has already heated beyond a key turning point can avoid serious damage. Much of the toll climate change takes — from rising seas to lost homes — can’t be undone, recent research published in the journal Nature warns.

That makes it all the more urgent for governments and companies with climate goals to slash pollution from fossil fuels now, rather than offsetting or capturing their greenhouse gas emissions after the fact.

One of the hopes with carbon removal is that it can potentially reverse climate change, bringing temperatures back down if we overshoot that 1.5-degree target. But things won’t just go back to normal, the new research conducted by 30 scientists shows. Melting ice from glaciers would continue to raise sea levels “for centuries to millennia,” for example, a phenomenon that has already pushed people from their homes along vulnerable coastlines. And even if the globe’s average temperature comes back down, it’s hard to say exactly what outcome to expect from region to region.

Dawn