<p>Mumbai: Current unambitious climate commitments, leading the world to well over 2°C of warming, spell disaster for billions of people from global ice loss, but that damage can still be prevented, according to a latest assessment. </p><p>Latest research detailed in the 2025 State of the Cryosphere Report notes thresholds likely at just 1°C of warming for the stability of polar ice sheets, and even lower temperatures for many glaciers. </p><p>The report also notes however that the most proactive climate pathways can bring temperatures down below 1.5°C by 2100 and below 1°C mark next century -- but only if reductions begin immediately.</p>.Stand up for spine health.<p>Currently, emissions are still climbing, generating not just cryosphere (ice and snow) melt but ocean acidification that has reached dangerous levels in polar waters, say the scientists.</p><p>Coordinated by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI), over 50 leading cryosphere scientists detail accelerating melt from the cryosphere since signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015.</p><p>The report warns that costs of loss and damage due to continued high emissions – leading towards 3°C – will be even more extreme, with many regions experiencing sea-level rise or water resource loss well beyond adaptation limits in coming decades or even today, as the tragic damage on Jamaica showed in late October.</p><p>The Report notes a growing scientific consensus that freshwater pouring off the melting Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, together with warmer waters, seem to be slowing important ocean currents at both poles, which would wreak havoc on ocean ecosystems and bring much colder temperatures to northern Europe.</p><p>The publication of the State of the Cryosphere Report 2025 comes as global leaders gather in Belém, Brazil for a Climate Leaders Action Summit in conjunction with the UNFCCC Conference of the Paties (COP30), and as the worlds’ governments share their latest climate pledges (NDCs).</p><p>At the same time, the report asserts that the worst impacts can still be avoided, based on new findings also released today by Climate Analytics and the Potsdam Institute. These "Highest Possible Ambition" (HPA) pathways show that despite overshoot as high as 1.8°C, temperatures can be lowered this century through a combination of aggressive emissions cuts and land-based carbon dioxide removal techniques.</p><p>This would slow and then halt glacier, snow and sea ice loss, as well as permafrost thaw. Parts of the polar ice sheets, especially those of West Antarctica, may well have passed so-called "tipping points” or thresholds for collapse. However, these can be drastically slowed, especially if temperature can return below 1°C next century. This is the difference between facing 3 meters' sea-level rise early next century (with current emissions), versus that amount in one or two thousand years.</p>
<p>Mumbai: Current unambitious climate commitments, leading the world to well over 2°C of warming, spell disaster for billions of people from global ice loss, but that damage can still be prevented, according to a latest assessment. </p><p>Latest research detailed in the 2025 State of the Cryosphere Report notes thresholds likely at just 1°C of warming for the stability of polar ice sheets, and even lower temperatures for many glaciers. </p><p>The report also notes however that the most proactive climate pathways can bring temperatures down below 1.5°C by 2100 and below 1°C mark next century -- but only if reductions begin immediately.</p>.Stand up for spine health.<p>Currently, emissions are still climbing, generating not just cryosphere (ice and snow) melt but ocean acidification that has reached dangerous levels in polar waters, say the scientists.</p><p>Coordinated by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI), over 50 leading cryosphere scientists detail accelerating melt from the cryosphere since signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015.</p><p>The report warns that costs of loss and damage due to continued high emissions – leading towards 3°C – will be even more extreme, with many regions experiencing sea-level rise or water resource loss well beyond adaptation limits in coming decades or even today, as the tragic damage on Jamaica showed in late October.</p><p>The Report notes a growing scientific consensus that freshwater pouring off the melting Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, together with warmer waters, seem to be slowing important ocean currents at both poles, which would wreak havoc on ocean ecosystems and bring much colder temperatures to northern Europe.</p><p>The publication of the State of the Cryosphere Report 2025 comes as global leaders gather in Belém, Brazil for a Climate Leaders Action Summit in conjunction with the UNFCCC Conference of the Paties (COP30), and as the worlds’ governments share their latest climate pledges (NDCs).</p><p>At the same time, the report asserts that the worst impacts can still be avoided, based on new findings also released today by Climate Analytics and the Potsdam Institute. These "Highest Possible Ambition" (HPA) pathways show that despite overshoot as high as 1.8°C, temperatures can be lowered this century through a combination of aggressive emissions cuts and land-based carbon dioxide removal techniques.</p><p>This would slow and then halt glacier, snow and sea ice loss, as well as permafrost thaw. Parts of the polar ice sheets, especially those of West Antarctica, may well have passed so-called "tipping points” or thresholds for collapse. However, these can be drastically slowed, especially if temperature can return below 1°C next century. This is the difference between facing 3 meters' sea-level rise early next century (with current emissions), versus that amount in one or two thousand years.</p>