COP 21: Never Reach 2°C

As many of you may already know, these days from November 30 to December 11 it is holding the international conference on climate change COP21 (21st Conference of Parties) in Paris. Authorities from United Nations are carrying out negotiations in order to define effective measurements to keep the level of global warming bellow 2°C by 2100. But, why this number?, why 2°C?.

Although the debate around this figure is quite complex, the video below offers an interactive explanation for this value defined in 2009 by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Copenhagen. The video summarize relevant environmental phenomena identified in the last two centuries such as relationship between sea level and pH, CO2 and global temperature, dynamic of Arctic sea ice, greenhouse anthropogenic emissions and trade-related CO2 transfers.

For the special purpose of this blog, considering the different perspectives that we have been discussing here, it is absolutely interesting to visualize the essential role of environmental models underpinning the analysis and projections of potential temperature and precipitation anomalies by 2100 (and their massive consequences) for each studied scenario.