Chapter 1. Sustainability and Artificial Intelligence
There is clear consensus among scientists about the climate trajectory of our planet—it is warming at an alarming rate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in their most recent report declared, “Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming, with global surface temperature reaching 1.1°C above 1850-1900 in 2011-2020.”1Figure 1-1 illustrates these trends of a warming planet and rising sea levels. The clear rise in global temperatures and sea levels coincides with the Industrial Revolution around the 19th century and has been accelerating in the last couple of decades.
Figure 1-1. Historical trend of global temperature anomaly and sea levels. (Source: Two Degrees Institute.)
The effects of planetary warming and climate change are increasingly unpredictable: erratic weather and intensifying natural disasters are becoming all too common, disproportionately harming vulnerable populations. While international agreements like the Paris Climate Accord have set emission targets, most fall short in either ambition or enforcement.2 The result is a growing gap between what is needed and what is being done.
The Difference Between 1.5°C and 2°C Global Warming
Keeping global warming under 1.5°C, emphasized in the 2015 Paris Agreement, is considered the safer ...
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