Response to Halting Emissions (IMAGE)
Caption
This graphic shows the change from pre-industrial temperatures if all human emissions were to suddenly stop in 2021. The dotted line shows that if only carbon dioxide is accounted for, average global temperatures flatline and don’t begin to drop until after 2100. When all human emissions are accounted for (dashed line) there’s a temporary bump as the particulate pollution drops out of the skies, and then gradual cooling as shorter-lived greenhouse gases like methane and nitrogen oxide get reabsorbed. Until emissions stop, particulate pollution masks some of the warming that Earth is already committed to by past emissions. The orange line shows the planet’s temperature climbing under a moderate business-as-usual emissions scenario.
Credit
Dvorak et al./Nature Climate Change
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