Glacier Extinction Accelerates by Mid-Century

A new study published in Nature Climate Change, led by glaciologist Lander Van Tricht and co-authored by Matthias Haas, warns that thousands of glaciers will vanish each year in the coming decades unless global warming is curbed. The research projects that the world could lose between 2,000 and 4,000 glaciers annually by mid-century, depending on government action on climate change. Even if warming is limited to 1.5C under the Paris Agreement, 2,000 glaciers are expected to disappear annually by 2041. Under a worst-case scenario of 4C warming, up to 4,000 glaciers could vanish each year by the mid-2050s, leaving only 9% of glaciers by 2100. The United Nations and United Nations Environment Programme have also warned that current warming trends are set to exceed the 1.5C target. The disappearance of glaciers, such as the Pizol Glacier in Switzerland, will have significant local impacts on tourism and culture, even if their contribution to sea-level rise is small.