The Climate Clock: How much time do we have left?
The science is clear: we are in a climate emergency. Decades of increasing carbon emissions are harming the natural and societal systems upon which humanity depends, threatening untold ecological and human devastation.
Backed by the latest science and created by a global coalition of scientists, activists, educators and artists, the Climate Clock tells us what we must do. Learn more about it here: https://climateclock.world/.
What the clock shows
The Deadline and Lifelines on the Climate Clock make explicit the speed and scope of action governments must take in order to limit the worst climate impacts. For example, the Clock’s Deadline shows that, at current rates of greenhouse gas emissions, the world has less than eight years left in its global ‘carbon budget’ for a two-thirds chance of staying under the critical threshold of 1.5°C of global warming. (This is the level beyond which processes such as polar melting may be unstoppable.)
Meanwhile the Clock’s Renewable Energy Lifeline tells us that the percent of global energy coming from renewable sources is currently at 12.5% and rising, but not nearly fast enough.
Together, the Deadline and Lifeline frame the urgency now required to avert devastation. The Climate Clock presents a timeline for action that no government is yet willing to commit to, but as the Climate Clock website says: “we must all do what science and justice demand, not what elected officials or CEOs might deem convenient.”
“We mustn’t pretend we have more time than we do”.
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