U.N. says only a 'quantum leap' can keep global climate goals within reach

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. We don't have time to waste waiting for magic pixie dust!

At this point, climate scientists agree that we need Carbon Capture, but that is in addition to drastic cuts in emissions (not instead of them.)

The "average american” (per capita) is currently responsible for 14 tons of CO₂/year.

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-annual-greenhouse-gas-index

Climate Change: Annual greenhouse gas index
BY REBECCA LINDSEY REVIEWED BY STEPHEN MONTZKA AND JAMES BUTLER
PUBLISHED JUNE 17, 2022

Among the most basic questions about global warming is how much are human-produced greenhouse gases influencing the climate today compared to the past? To answer this question, NOAA developed the Annual Greenhouse Gas Index ("AGGI" for short). Updated yearly, the AGGI calculates the combined warming influence of the most important long-lived greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous dioxide, and a number of industrial chemicals used in cooling and refrigeration, aerosol sprays, and other processes. The total direct heating influence in a given year is compared to conditions in 1990—the year that countries who signed the U.N. Kyoto Protocol agreed to use as a benchmark for their efforts to reduce emissions.

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By the end of 2022, NOAA reported that the AGGI was 1.49, meaning the direct warming influence of human-produced greenhouse gases had risen 49 percent since 1990. Most of the warming influence (64 percent) is due to carbon dioxide. Methane is the second-largest contributor (19 percent). The third-largest contributor is the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) category (8.1 percent). (CFCs were widely used in cooling systems and aerosol sprays in the mid-1900s, before we realized they damaged the ozone layer. These substances and their replacements are now regulated under the Montreal Protocol, but they are extremely long-lived in the atmosphere, so they continue to play a role in Earth's heating imbalance.)




This graph shows the heating influence caused by the major human-produced greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (gray), methane (dark purple), nitrous oxide (medium purple), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs, lavender), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs, blue), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs, light blue). Relative to conditions in 1750, today's atmosphere absorbs more than 3 extra watts of energy per square meter of Earth's surface. Graph by NOAA Climate.gov based on data from NOAA Global Monitoring Lab. For the complete list of chemicals in the CFC, HFC, and HCFC groups, see Figure 3 in the Full AGGI Report.Graph by NOAA Climate.gov based on data from NOAA ESRL.

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To put things into perspective, in 1988, James Hansen warned Congress that Global Warming was now a scientific certainty. Since that time, the rate of global heating has increased by half. It will not decrease even if we end all emissions tomorrow. That heating is due to the gases already in the atmosphere.