Sea level rise can be halved this century

Wednesday, May 5, 2021 — New research from a large international group of scientists, including the Physical Geography research group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel led by Prof Philippe Huybrechts, suggests that sea level rise due to the melting of land ice could be halved this century if we meet the Paris targets to limit global warming to 1.5°C. The new study examines the contribution of land ice to sea level rise in the 21st century. Huybrechts: " Even if we were to stop all greenhouse gas emissions now, global sea levels would continue to rise. But our study shows that an ambitious climate policy in line with the Paris Agreement can still limit the damage. This also means that many countries will have to update their pledges in the run-up to COP26 in November to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Glaciers and ice sheets are currently responsible for about half of global sea level rise, with the rest coming largely from the expansion of the oceans as they warm. Previous predictions had used older emissions scenarios and could not evaluate the uncertainty in the future as thoroughly because of the limited number of simulations.