Balancing Climate Missions: Earth's Race Against Key Thresholds

A new study warns that the world will likely exceed the internationally agreed temperature limit for global warming by early 2029 if it continues burning fossil fuels at the current rate. The study attributes the accelerated timeline to progress made in cleaning up aerosol pollution, which slightly cools the planet but masks the effects of burning coal, oil, and natural gas. The study calculates the remaining "carbon budget" and sets it at 250 billion metric tons, leaving only five years and a couple of months to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times, as outlined in the 2015 Paris agreement.