Even limiting global warming to 1.5°C would leave permanent damage to Earth’s ice sheets, report warns

Earlier this fall, scientists determined that the Paris Agreement’s temperature goal will be exceeded within ten years.

For the cryosphere - the Earth’s water in solid form, that is, all ice and snow - much of the damage would be permanent, even if warming were later reduced to 1.5 degrees.

Glaciers would retain only about 70 percent of their current volume over several centuries if long-term warming were reduced to 0.8 degrees. Greenland and Antarctica would continue to lose ice even if the 1.5-degree goal were exceeded only temporarily, according to a report by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative.