Committed sea-level rise under the Paris Agreement and the legacy of delayed mitigation action

Matthias Mengel (), Alexander Nauels, Joeri Rogelj and Carl-Friedrich Schleussner
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Matthias Mengel: Member of the Leibniz Association
Alexander Nauels: The University of Melbourne
Joeri Rogelj: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Carl-Friedrich Schleussner: Member of the Leibniz Association

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Sea-level rise is a major consequence of climate change that will continue long after emissions of greenhouse gases have stopped. The 2015 Paris Agreement aims at reducing climate-related risks by reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero and limiting global-mean temperature increase. Here we quantify the effect of these constraints on global sea-level rise until 2300, including Antarctic ice-sheet instabilities. We estimate median sea-level rise between 0.7 and 1.2 m, if net-zero greenhouse gas emissions are sustained until 2300, varying with the pathway of emissions during this century. Temperature stabilization below 2 °C is insufficient to hold median sea-level rise until 2300 below 1.5 m. We find that each 5-year delay in near-term peaking of CO2 emissions increases median year 2300 sea-level rise estimates by ca. 0.2 m, and extreme sea-level rise estimates at the 95th percentile by up to 1 m. Our results underline the importance of near-term mitigation action for limiting long-term sea-level rise risks.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-02985-8

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