Climate Tipping Points

There are multiple reports highlighting the disastrous consequences of climate change, including but not limited to droughts, water scarcity, severe wildfires, rising sea levels etc. While climate records are being continuously broken, the impact could cause fundamental parts of the the Earth's system to change dramatically.

Climate tipping points are critical thresholds that cause irreversible and catastrophic damage to the planet. For example, rising global temperatures can trigger a change like rainforests becoming as dry as the Savanna. Breaching one tipping point can increase the likelihood of crossing others, which in turn triggers a domino effect.

Climate tipping points fall into three broad categories. They are cryosphere, ocean-atmosphere and biosphere.
Unabated global warming can cause irreversible ice melt from the Greenland ice sheets. This can slow down the ocean's circulation of heat - the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). This can have an impact on South America's monsoon system.

Changes in the monsoon system may lead to a rise in frequency of droughts in the Amazon rainforest.

According to a recent study, five major tipping points are already at the risk of being crossed due to global warming. Three more are expected to do the same in the 2030s, as the world exceeds 1.5° temperature rise.

The tipping points that are currently at risk are as follows.

1. Collapse of big ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica.
2. Widespread thawing of permafrost
3. Death of coral reefs in warm waters
4. Collapse of one oceanic current in the North Atlantic.

Crossing these tipping points could have a horrendous effect on societies, as well as the ecosystem.

In 2023, Greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere reached the highest levels ever recorded. While carbon dioxide concentration last year was 2.4 parts per million (PPM) higher than in 2022, methane concentration increased by 11 parts per billion (PPB). Global governance is currently inadequate to minimise tipping point threats.

The best way to combat this is to cure greenhouse gas production. Adequate global governance should be prioritised. Implementation of a global emergency action is needed to control some of the climate tipping points. This would require a shift in the way policies are formulated. Use of technological development and innovation will also help greatly.