Ocean floor deposits and model calculations have confirmed that in the past 3 million years, the global mean temperature has never been more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels, with fluctuating CO2 levels in the atmosphere. Since the beginning of industrialization, more CO2 has accumulated in the atmosphere through the burning of coal, oil and gas than probably ever before in the past 3 million years. Thus, in our current century, there is real threat that without effective climate policy the 2-degree limit of global warming will be breached for the first time – with far-reaching consequences.

Almost all of industry energy needs in Europe can be satisfied with clean power by 2050. Replacing fossil fuels with low-CO2 electricity is key to stabilize our climate. 78% of industry’s energy demand is electrifiable with technologies that are already established, Potsdam researchers showed, while 99% can be achieved with the addition of technologies currently under development. However, industry electrification leads to greenhouse gas emissions reductions only if power generation gets greener. If we do this,  in line with the European Green Deal’s targets, energy-related industry emissions would become minimal by mid-century, leaving only process emissions from chemical reactions and the like which account for around one fifth of current industry emissions.

Never before in over 1000 years the Gulf Stream System (also known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation AMOC), has been as weak as in the last decades. PIK researchers have determined evidence of the AMOC weakening with the help of 11 proxy data series (information gathered by so called climate archives like ocean sediments, corals etc): They have compiled 11 independent data series from the North Atlantic, almost all of them from deep-sea sediment cores. They all provide a consistent picture about the flow characteristics of the Gulf Stream System and its weakening in the past 70 years. The slowdown is likely related to man-made climate change.