Curbing global warming to 1.5C would halve sea level rise

Limiting global warming to 1.5C would halve the sea level rise the world will face this century from melting ice sheets and glaciers, a study has suggested.

The analysis found sea level rises from melting ice could be reduced from a central prediction of 25cm by 2100 if only current pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions are delivered, to 13cm if rising temperatures are curbed to 1.5C (2.7F).

Halving sea level rises from land ice could help reduce the increase in severe coastal flooding, the scientists said.

Melting land ice, including the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets and glaciers around the world, has contributed around half of all sea level rise since 1993, with the other half coming from the oceans expanding as they warm.

The share of sea level rise coming from land ice is expected to increase.

Under the Paris climate treaty, countries have committed to keep global temperature rises to "well below" 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to curb them to 1.5C to prevent the worst impacts on climate change.

But the world is well off track to meet the tougher 1.5C limit, as up until recently national plans for cutting climate-warming emissions added up to rises of more than 3C (5.4F) - although in the past few months countries have been bringing forward more ambitious pledges to tackle the crisis.

Dr Tamsin Edwards, of King's College London, said: "Global sea level will continue to rise, even if we halt all emissions now, but our research suggests we could limit the damage: if pledges were far more ambitious, central predictions for sea level rise from melting ice would be reduced"