New Scientist reports that the UN now assumes holding warming to 1.5C will require temporarily overshooting that threshold and then cooling the planet back down by 2100. That overshoot, peak, decline path leaves lasting damage, even with aggressive emissions cuts. The clearest example is Thwaites glacier in Antarctica, which appears committed to continued melting even if ocean-driven warming stopped today, locking in significant sea level rise. The article also notes some land carbon sinks, like the Amazon, can recover from short-term shocks, and there are ideas for restoring the AMOC after a collapse. But the overall message is that some climate impacts are no longer avoidable. For anyone working on carbon markets, grid decarbonization, or climate finance, the practical takeaway is that adaptation and resilience costs need to be part of the planning, not an afterthought.
