World hits first climate tipping point, scientists warn

The planet has crossed its initial climate tipping point, with scientists warning that global warming is now causing widespread diebacks of warm-water coral reefs. A landmark report, published on Monday, reveals that escalating temperatures are pushing several of Earth’s vital systems perilously close to thresholds where their decline accelerates, leading to increasingly irreversible global consequences.

- Stuti Mishra, The Independent

The study, spearheaded by Professor Tim Lenton from the University of Exeter and involving over 160 scientists across 23 nations, specifically highlights that warm-water coral reefs — crucial for nearly a billion people and a quarter of all marine life — have already surpassed their thermal tipping point.

Researchers identified this critical threshold at 1.2C above pre-industrial levels; however, global temperatures have now reached 1.4C, indicating that the severe repercussions of this breach are already unfolding. In the last two years, more than 80% of the world’s reefs have been affected by the worst bleaching event on record, with corals losing their colours and turning white because of stress largely caused by high ocean temperatures. This means that unless the planet cools, these marine ecosystems will be lost across the world, the scientists warned, before adding that small refuges may survive and must be protected.