A study published in the journal Nature stated that up to 75% of the world’s glaciers could disappear if global heating reaches a rise of 2.7 degrees — the trajectory the world is currently on, reported The Guardian.
Glaciers today contribute about a quarter of sea level rise and even the glaciers already doomed will add 11cm more. If losses continue at this scale, the total sea level rise from glaciers alone could reach 23 cm, triggering mass migration and impacting billions reliant on the water supplies from glaciers to grow food.
However, reducing carbon emissions and limiting global warming to the agreed 1.5 degrees Celsuis target agreed under the Paris Agreement could save half of glaciers and reduce sea level rise to 14 cm. But experts believe that achieving the goal is increasingly out of reach. Scientists warn that current trends make staying below 1.5 degrees Celsius virtually impossible.
In 2024, global temperatures hit 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, making it the hottest year on record. The past 10 consecutive years have also been the hottest in recorded history, making it harder to ignore the urgency of the crisis.
“The goal to avoid exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius is deader than a doornail. It’s almost impossible to avoid at this point because we’ve just waited too long to act,” said Zeke Hausfather, climate research lead at Stripe and a research scientist at Berkeley Earth. “We are speeding past the 1.5 degrees Celsius line in an accelerating way and that will continue until global emissions stop climbing.”
With such predictions doing rounds, slashing carbon emissions and limiting heating as per the Paris Agreement, is looking increasingly out of reach as emissions continue to rise.
Glacier Loss Nears Irreversible
The study indicated that glaciers in the western US and Canada are particularly vulnerable. Even in the high-altitude, colder regions such as the Hindu Kush and Karakoram, glaciers are projected to shrink significantly as global temperatures rise.
At 2.7C of global heating, the situation is severe: in 12 of the world’s 19 major glacier regions, including central Europe to the eastern Himalayas, at least 80% of glaciers are projected to disappear. As per The Guardian, entire glacier systems in places like the US and Iceland are expected to vanish.
Meanwhile, a separate State of the Global Climate report published by the World Meteorological Organisation, found that glaciers are retreating at the fastest rate on record. This has serious implications for food insecurity, already affecting more than 1 billion people residing in mountainous regions and developing countries where food production relies on glacier-fed water sources.
