Carbon dioxide emissions have less impact on the global average temperature than has been claimed by the UN’s climate change advisory body, according to a study.
The authors found that warming of the atmosphere was likely to occur more slowly than predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The study, published in the journal Climate Dynamics, found that if the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere doubled, the temperature would rise by up to 1.8C over 70 years. The IPCC said in its report last year that the increase would be up to 2.5C.
The difference is significant because if the new paper is correct, the emissions cuts needed to prevent a dangerous rise in temperature could take place more slowly than governments