Consultancy within Engineering, Environmental Science and Economics

Climate change

Melting polar ice might tip the climate balance

“The more we do now, the less damage will be done. We’re already seeing significant climate changes," say England and Lenton (on the right)

The CO2 emissions must be reduced by at least 25 per cent by 2020 and at least 80 per cent by 2050, say the climate experts Matthew England and Tim Lenton. Otherwise melting polar ice could tip the climate balance.

If we don’t cut CO2 emissions by at least 25 per cent by 2020 and at least 80 per cent by 2050, melting polar ice could force climate change past the tipping point.

The consequences could be fatal, according to climate scientists Matthew England, a professor at the Climate Change Research Centre at Australia’s University of New South Wales, and Tim Lenton, a professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia in Great Britain.

The two men led a session about climate tipping points during the Research Congress on Climate Change held in Copenhagen in March 2009

According to England the temperature in West Antarctica has risen at unprecedented rates over the past 30 years.

Due to climate change, the West Antarctic ice sheet may begin to slide into the ocean, causing sea levels to rise. The first signs of danger can already be seen in the form of warming air and water around Antarctica, which leads to the break up of floating ice shelves that protect the main ice sheet.

Both climate experts believe that the 2007 report released by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) underestimates how much sea levels will rise by 2100.

“The sea level is rising 50 per cent faster than the models we used five years ago predicted,” Lenton says.

He believes preventing the ocean from rising by a metre by 2100 will be a difficult task:

“Some experts are even saying that the sea level will rise by nearly two metres this century. That’s scary!”

Read the full interview with Matthew England and Tim Lenton (pdf)

By Kathrine Schmeichel
Published: 15.04.2009