‘A Glimmer of Hope’: How Scientists Are Reacting to Obama’s Climate Deal with China

We now have a good faith effort on the part of the planet’s two leading carbon emitters to work together.
...
Policymakers aside, it is important to note the reactions of the people who actually measure climate change and predict how it will impact humans in the future.  What do they think about the deal?  Is it enough to make a real difference in the fight against catastrophic global warming?

For the climate scientists ThinkProgress asked on Wednesday, the answer was a resounding yes, with a side of caution.  Scientists confirmed that the announcement, which has China agreeing to cap its emissions by 2030 and the U.S. committing to a 26 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2025, represented a huge first step toward building the kind of political cooperation needed to effectively combat a global problem.

“My take is that this is an historic agreement for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that we now have a good faith effort on the part of the planet’s two leading carbon emitters to work together to lower planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions,” said Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University.
...
While the response to the deal was overwhelmingly positive, scientists did also caution that none of the current efforts are enough to completely solve the problem of climate change.  Scientists widely think solving the problem means preventing global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

To do that, scientists say we’ll need even more international cooperation, and a big push to deploy cleaner technologies, more energy efficiency, and a strategy to adapt to climate change that does occur.  Kevin Trenberth, a distinguished senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, hopes people don’t lose track of that while celebrating the deal.

“The agreement with China is a good first step. But we hope it is but a first step because it is not enough to prevent significant climate change,” he said.
...
Perhaps the most important agreement that could resemble Wednesday’s pact with China is the one that could be formed in Paris at the end of 2015.  There, the U.N. will hold a climate summit that some — including Mann — believe could be the last opportunity for a global agreement on emissions reductions before irreversible warming occurs.

“It is probably our last-ditch opportunity to stave off dangerous human interference with the climate,” Mann said.  “This historic agreement between the U.S. and China provides a glimmer of hope that we will see something significant come out of Paris.”

Read More at ‘A Glimmer of Hope’:  How Scientists Are Reacting to Obama’s Climate Deal with China