Study Warns Rapid Glacier Loss Could Accelerate Without Climate Action

Study Warns Rapid Glacier Loss Could Accelerate Without Climate Action
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The world risks losing thousands of glaciers each year in the coming decades unless global warming is significantly reduced, according to a new scientific study reported by Al Jazeera. Research published on Monday in Nature Climate Change warns that in the absence of urgent policy action, the planet could reach a phase of “peak glacier extinction” by the middle of the century.

Scientists estimate that around 200,000 glaciers currently exist worldwide, with roughly 750 disappearing annually. The study found that this figure could rise to as many as 4,000 per year if global temperatures increase by about 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Under such a scenario, fewer than 20,000 glaciers would remain by the end of the century.

Even under more optimistic conditions, where governments succeed in limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in line with the Paris Agreement, glacier loss would still accelerate. The report projects that by 2041, up to 2,000 glaciers could vanish each year, resulting in the disappearance of more than half of the world’s glaciers by 2100.

However, researchers cautioned that this best-case outcome is increasingly unlikely. The UN Environment Programme recently warned that current climate commitments put the world on track for warming of between 2.3 and 2.5 degrees Celsius by century’s end. The study, released during the UN’s International Year of Glacier Preservation, stressed that near-term political decisions will play a decisive role in determining the scale of glacier loss, with profound environmental and emotional consequences.