Scientists declare 2 C climate goal 'dead'

WASHINGTON — Holding long-term global warming to 2 C — the fall-back target of the Paris climate accord — is now "impossible", according to a stark new analysis published by leading scientists.

Led by renowned climatologist James Hansen, the paper appears in the journal Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development and concludes that Earth's climate is more sensitive to rising greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought.

Compounding the crisis, Hansen and colleagues argued, is a recent decline in sunlight-blocking aerosol pollution from the shipping industry, which had been mitigating some of the warming.