Climate tipping points could lock in unstoppable changes to the planet – how close are they?

Oct 18, 2022

There are signs that some climate tipping points are already approaching, according to new research. Image: Unsplash/NASA

David Armstrong McKay

Researcher in Earth System Resilience, Stockholm University

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Climate Change is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Climate Change

A section of an ice sheet on water in Greenland climate tipping points

Every fraction of a degree makes climate tipping points more likely, but we can’t be sure exactly when tipping becomes inevitable. Image: Pexels/Harrison Haines

climate tipping points approaching Degradation drought Amazon less resilient fire emit more carbon than they absorb

There are signs that some climate tipping points are already approaching. Degradation and drought have caused parts of the Amazon to become less resilient to disturbances like fire and emit more carbon than they absorb. Image: Unsplash/ JOHN TOWNER

Discover

What’s the World Economic Forum doing about climate change?

Have you read?

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.