Bad news climate denying Kiwis – catastrophic climate change is happening faster!

New scientific research is warning that the climate crisis is accelerating faster than previously understood. Global heating is now increasing at nearly double the rate seen over the previous half century, putting the world on track to breach the critical 1.5°C warming threshold within the next few years. For a country like Aotearoa New Zealand, the implications are enormous.

Bad week to be a National, ACT, NZF redneck climate denier. Turns out the ‘socialist hoax’ is actually happening far faster…

Scientists Warn Global Heating Is Accelerating

Humanity heating planet faster than ever before, study finds

Humanity is heating the planet faster than ever before, a study has found.

Climate breakdown is occurring more rapidly with the heating rate almost doubling, according to research that excludes the effect of natural factors behind the latest scorching temperatures.

It found global heating accelerated from a steady rate of less than 0.2ºC per decade between 1970 and 2015 to about 0.35ºC per decade over the past 10 years. The rate is higher than scientists have seen since they started systematically taking the Earth’s temperature in 1880.

“If the warming rate of the past 10 years continues, it would lead to a long-term exceedance of the 1.5ºC (2.7F) limit of the Paris agreement before 2030,” said Stefan Rahmstorf, a scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and co-author of the study.

Why the Warming Rate Has Suddenly Increased

Extreme heat in recent years has been pushed higher by natural fluctuations – such as solar cycles, volcanic eruptions, and the weather pattern El Niño – that have led scientists to question whether startling temperature readings are outliers or the result of an increase in global heating.

The researchers applied a noise-reduction method to filter out the estimated effect of nonhuman factors in five major datasets that scientists have compiled to gauge the Earth’s temperature. In each of them, they found an acceleration in global heating emerged in 2013 or 2014.

“There is now pretty widespread – if not quite universal – agreement that there has been a detectable acceleration in warming in recent years,” said Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, who was not involved in the study. “However, it remains unclear how much of the additional warming over the past decade in particular is a forced response versus unforced variability.”

The blanket of carbon pollution smothering the Earth has heated the planet by about 1.4ºC since preindustrial levels, compounded by a recent drop in cooling sulphur pollutants that had provided temporary relief. A study Hausfather co-authored last year also found climate breakdown has speeded up, but had the rate slightly slower than the new study, at 0.27ºC a decade.

The Guardian 

What Breaching 1.5°C Before 2030 Means

…that’s right, catastrophic climate change is getting faster and far more devastating!

We are now on track to breach 1.5ºC BEFORE 2030 and once breached, it will get hotter far, far quicker.

The impacts of this are existential.

The great news is that the Boomers who think they will die before climate change  impacts them will also drown and burn with us.

That’s the only silver lining.

From Climate Denial to Climate Consequences

Look.

Folks.

I appreciate you can’t swallow your pride and admit the environmentalists were right all along and that climate change caused by human pollution is real and is pushing the planet beyond biosphere tipping points, but it is real, it is caused by human pollution and it is pushing us beyond biosphere tipping points.

The Argument for Fortress Aotearoa

The issue now is adaptation and Fortress Aotearoa.

I’ve been banging this drum for over a decade now, globalisation is dead, hyper regional is here and our future is post-growth sustainability.

This is the age of consequences and revolution is coming whether we want it or not.

We need to remember those who have sided with the polluters and where they live.

The science is no longer debating whether climate change is real or even whether it is accelerating. The debate now is about how societies respond to a warming world that is arriving far faster than predicted. For countries like Aotearoa New Zealand, the question is no longer if the impacts will arrive, but how prepared we are when they do.

Frequently Asked Questions

How fast is the planet warming now?
Recent research suggests the planet is now warming at roughly 0.35°C per decade, almost double the rate recorded between 1970 and 2015.

What is the 1.5°C climate threshold?
The 1.5°C target was set in the Paris Agreement as the maximum level of warming scientists believe the world could tolerate without triggering severe climate disruption.

Why are temperatures rising faster now?
Scientists say the acceleration is primarily driven by greenhouse gas emissions, though short-term factors like El Niño, volcanic activity and solar cycles can temporarily amplify warming.

Why does breaching 1.5°C matter?
Crossing that threshold significantly increases the risk of irreversible climate tipping points such as ice sheet collapse, ecosystem loss, and extreme weather intensification.