In a recent science briefing, some of the world’s leading climate researchers said that accelerated warming over the past 10 years is a warning that Earth’s natural carbon-absorbing systems, including forests and oceans, are breaking down in the face of relentlessly rising greenhouse gas levels from fossil fuel emissions.

Last week’s presentation, led by researchers with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research , was aimed at the negotiators gathering for the COP30 climate talks in Belém, Brazil, from Nov. 10 to Nov. 21. The institute’s director, Johan Rockström , said “one of the messages is that we are forced to declare failure, because we will inevitably, within the next five to 10 years, breach the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit set in the Paris Agreement.”

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