An initiative to highlight the effects of climate change, called the Climate Clock, shows how long the Earth has before we reach a temperature of 1.5ºC at current greenhouse gas emissions. But what does it mean for our planet to reach that temperature?

The answer is collected by the NOAA (National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States), which states that in 2023, the Earth experienced the third warmest month of May in 174 years.

He Climate Clock was created by artists, scientists and climate activists to raise awareness of this phenomenon that occurs when temperatures that have had a stable average for a period of time change due to what is happening on Earth.

This change may be gradual because it is natural, but today it has accelerated due to human activity since the industrial revolution, and this worries many people. Since 1850, every decade has been warmer than the last, and the Earth’s current temperature is 1.1ºC.

Those on the Climate Clock warn that we have 257 million tons of carbon left that we can use to reach the 1.5ºC maximum. This means that if people continue to consume fossil fuels as we do now, we have 6 years to reach our limit. Scientists have claimed that extreme changes on Earth could be irreversible after that.

What is climate change

What is accelerating the climate change process the most are greenhouse gases, which have increased in an unprecedented way since the industrial revolution. These gases are responsible for trapping heat in the atmosphere. Humans generate these gases by burning fossil fuels because they give off carbon dioxide and methane, the major components of greenhouse gases.

To ensure that the effects of climate change are manageable and reversible in the future, governments have committed to reducing their emissions so that temperatures are below 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures, with a cap of 1.5°C C. He Paris Agreement, December 2015and the 2030 Agenda, also known as the United Nations Sustainable Goals Agenda, are the two biggest commitments by world governments to combat climate change and its impacts.

Global Carbon Project – Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Events Affecting Emissions.

Within these commitments, there are three very important categories to act on: reduce emissions, adapt to the current and future impacts of this crisis, and finance what is needed to adapt to this new reality. One of the promises made by developed countries in the Paris Agreement is to provide $100,000 a year to developing countries to help in this fight. Another promise is to listen to the best science out there before making any decisions.

Consequences of climate change

To measure the effects of this process, there are several elements that scientists look at. These are the atmospheric carbon levels, forest loss through deforestation, record warm temperatures, melting of the poles and permafrost (permanently frozen ground layer) that melts. Each of these events affects how much global temperatures rise.

Currently, you see many indications that these indices are strongly influenced by the weather. These processes not only affect the temperature, but also animals, infrastructure and people. Examples include changes in animal attitudes and a loss of biodiversity. With the high temperatures there are many animals migrating very early to places they have never been before, there is also habitat loss such as the melting of the poles driving polar bears away.

Extreme rainfall, intense drought, water shortages, fires like this year in Canada, rising sea levels which caused the displacement of people living near the sea, and catastrophic storms These are some of the effects that can become noticeable.

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