Just as an oil tanker steaming ahead at full speed cannot stop immediately, so the dramatic rise in sea levels will continue even if the world manages to slash greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2030, experts warned in a study published Monday.
They would rise by 20 centimeters by 2300 in comparison with the reference period of 1986-2005, according to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . And that may be a conservative estimate: UN-backed scientists are already predicting an increase in water levels of between 26 cm and 77 cm by the end of this century alone.
"We all focus on the 21st century," he said, warning that"sometimes that can create the false impression that after the 21st century nothing else will happen."