Overview

• The study finds that almost 40% of the world’s 200,000 glaciers are already committed to irreversible melt under current warming levels.
• Nearly 39% of glacier mass loss is already locked in even if fossil fuel emissions cease immediately, enough to raise sea levels by at least 11cm.
• Limiting global heating to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C target could preserve about 54% of glacial mass, whereas a 2.7C pathway would eradicate roughly 75%.
• Regional vulnerability varies sharply with glaciers in the European Alps, Rockies and Iceland projected to lose almost all ice at 2C of warming while many Himalayan glaciers may persist at higher elevations.
• Accelerating glacier loss threatens water supplies for billions, disrupts ecosystems and tourism economies and has prompted the UN to hold a High-Level International Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation.