1.5°C: What it means and why it matters for global warming

Indexed: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]When you hear people talk about climate change, a certain phrase and number comes up all the time. It's called 1.5 or 1.5 degrees Celsius. Let's take a look at what it really means, what it doesn't mean, and are we close to hitting it? In 2015, the world agreed in the Paris Climate Accord to try to keep warming to about [music] 1 and 1/2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. What they mean is about 1850 to 1880. We're at about 1.2 or 1.3 degrees Celsius now. What happens at this threshold?

[00:00:39]The world doesn't end. Scientists have compared a world with 1 and 1/2 degrees warming to a world with 2 degrees, [music] 3 degrees of warming, and they find that certain ice sheets and glaciers [music] and coral reef are far more likely to survive at 1 and 1/2 degrees of warming than they are 2 or higher. So, we are so close to that 1 and 1/2 degree threshold that if we continue on the current pace, in less than 3 years, in early 2028, [music] we will have made 1.5 degrees inevitable. And just because we step over the danger line, doesn't mean with a lot of effort later, we can't take a step back.