Earth Nearing Irreversible Climate Tipping Points, Scientists Warn

A comprehensive report identifies five natural systems at risk of triggering devastating domino effects, but also highlights the potential for positive change through rapid emission reductions and societal shifts.

A new report warns that Earth is in danger of hitting irreversible tipping points for five of its natural systems due to human-caused climate change.
The report, contributed to by over 200 scientists, identifies the melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, the dying off of warm-water coral reefs, the thawing of permafrost, and impacts to a North Atlantic ocean current as close to triggering.
These tipping points pose threats of a magnitude never faced before by humanity and could trigger devastating domino effects, including the loss of whole ecosystems.
The report's bleak outlook is tempered with a message of hope, as researchers say there are positive tipping points that can be reached too, particularly in the transition from planet-warming fossil fuels to renewable energy, people changing to plant-based diets and social movements.
The report recommends a rapid phase-out of greenhouse gas emissions from human land use and the burning of fossil fuels, strengthening adaptation and loss-and-damage governance, and investing in deepening the scientific knowledge of tipping points.

South China Morning Post