Researchers warn in report Earth's tipping points are drawing ominously closer

With its strong warming, our planet is rapidly approaching catastrophic and irreversible tipping points - according to the warning of 160 climate researchers from 23 countries.

Keystone-SDA

13.10.2025, 01:13

13.10.2025, 07:37

SDA

With its strong warming, our planet is rapidly approaching catastrophic and irreversible tipping points - according to the warning of 160 climate researchers from 23 countries.

"We are rapidly approaching several tipping points in the Earth system that could change our world and have devastating consequences for people and nature," emphasized Tim Lenton from the University of Exeter, who is publishing the "Global Tipping Points Report" with an international team. Unprecedented and immediate action is needed from political decision-makers around the world.

In climate research, a tipping point is a critical threshold value beyond which a part of the Earth system tips comparatively suddenly and often irreversibly into a new state - with potentially terrible consequences for humanity. Researchers consider it essential to avoid tipping points in order to prevent serious, irreversible effects of climate change.

According to the report, a tipping point has already been reached with the great coral extinction. The temperature threshold for this tipping point is estimated at 1.2 degrees - and has already been exceeded with the current global warming of around 1.4 degrees. Even in the unlikely event that global warming stabilizes at 1.5 degrees, there is a probability of more than 99 percent that warm-water coral reefs will be lost.

The Amazon rainforest, on the edge of which the World Climate Conference will soon be taking place, is also at risk from a combination of climate-related droughts and deforestation: The threshold at which widespread dieback threatens is lower than previously thought - the lower end of the assumed range at which the system could tip is now at the 1.5 degrees already almost reached, it said.

The Atlantic overturning current could possibly also collapse at a global warming of less than two degrees, the researchers assume. This would lead to significantly harsher winters in north-western Europe and, among other things, disrupt the conditions for agriculture in large parts - with drastic consequences for global food security. However, forecasts on the development of the current system are still considered very uncertain.

Since their last assessment two years ago, the researchers have also seen progress in terms of change. "There has been a radical global acceleration, including the spread of solar energy and electric cars. But we need to do more and move faster to reach positive tipping points," said Lenton. At best, there would be chain reactions - for example between the energy, transport and heating sectors. "We need to identify and trigger many more positive tipping points," said the team.