New research finds carbon dioxide is even worse for planet than originally thought

Well, the bad news is that scientists may have underestimated just how bad carbon dioxide is for the planet and future climate change.

That’s right, new research has shown that the rise in CO2 levels might cause Earth’s temperature to rise by up to 14 degrees, which is more than predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

New research has delved into samples collected from the Pacific Ocean has shown experts that the doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere could have far more of an impact on climate change than previously thought.

Researchers from NIOZ and the Universities of Utrecht and Bristol published a study in the journal Nature Communications stating that a doubling of CO2 levels could raise Earth’s average temperature by 7 to 14 degrees Celsius.

First author of the study Caitlyn Witkowski said: “The temperature rise we found is much larger than the 2.3 to 4.5 degrees Celsius (4.1 to 8.1 degrees Fahrenheit) that the UN climate panel, IPCC, has been estimating so far.”

As part of the research, soil was extracted from the bottom of the Ocean, from a spot where oxygen wasn’t able to penetrate – better preserving the samples and giving the best possible example of carbon dioxide preserved in soil from 15 million years ago.

Professor Jaap Sinninghe Damsté is senior scientist at NIOZ and professor of organic geochemistry at Utrecht University. He said about obtaining the samples in this way: “As a result, organic matter is not broken down as quickly by microbes and more carbon is preserved,” Damsté said. He was also the supervisor of Witkowski, whose doctorate thesis included this research.

Analysis of the samples showed that the average temperature way back 15 million years ago was more than 18 degrees Celsius. That is four degrees warmer than it is now, and around the same level that IPCC predicts the worst case scenario to be in 2100.

Spelling out the implications of the findings, Damsté said: “So, this research gives us a glimpse of what the future could hold if we take too few measures to reduce CO2 emissions and also implement few technological innovations to offset emissions. The clear warning from this research is: CO2 concentration is likely to have a stronger impact on temperature than we are currently taking into account!”

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