In August 2023, NASA published a climate risk assessment describing what the world would be like when the 2 Celsius rise was breached. It noted passing the threshold would lead to “dangerous and cascading effects” including:
- Most of the world would experience higher heat stress with more than 25% of the global population suffering from an additional month of severe heat when compared to conditions at the mid-20th century point.
- High temperatures and drought could combine in places like the Amazon River Basin to increase wildfire risk and further deforestation.
- The American West would experience extreme fire weather more intense than what has been recently seen. Fire weather would last longer than it does today.
The ultimate irony is that this year's global climate summit is being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), a petrostate which has no plans to decrease its oil production output but rather like all the others has forecasted a substantial increase. Does this sound insane to you, because it sure does to me.