Any delay in reaching net zero will influence climate for centuries

Even a few years’ delay in reaching net-zero emissions will have repercussions for hundreds or even thousands of years, leading to warmer oceans, more extensive ice loss in Antarctica and higher temperatures around the world.

Nations around the world have collectively promised to prevent more than 2°C of global warming, a goal that can only be achieved by reaching net-zero emissions – effectively ending almost all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions – before the end of the century. But once that hugely challenging goal…