There are fears that even if the carbon emission targets are met, there will still be a dramatic rise in the sea level. This will mean many coastal cities will overrun. The study by Nature Climate Change believes cities such as Rio de Janeiro, London, New York and Shanghai will see 20% of their populations have to move inland.
There was shown to be a clear link between carbon pollution and sea level rises. Even though the ice caps do not melt quickly, the carbon dioxide hangs around meaning that cycle will not be broken.
Regardless of improvements, there is no way to remove the emissions so far released meaning that there is already a 5.5ft rise to come. If we can keep below the 2% increase, we will still see a 30ft rise and miss this target will lead us to endure a 165ft rise.
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Things could be worse if the study by the National Academy of Sciences is to be believed as they think the caps could melt more quickly. The rise in the last 100 years is already worse than in the previous 2000 years. This study also looked at the changes in global temperature.
One of the authors of the Nature Climate Change study Aaron Goldner believes the actions over the following 10-20 years will be vital in determining the level the sea will rise. Future generations depend on us cutting out the use of fossil fuels. So if we move away from the use of fossil fuels, and reduce carbon pollution, we will ultimately reduce climate decline and damages, and this will benefit our future generations.