How climate futures could diverge in China and the United States

Compare projected physical conditions under alternative global pathways, then explore how transition choices change emissions and investment needs. This is a scenario explorer, not a forecast.

Select countries, indicators and scenarios. Switch to Transition choices to build an abatement package.

Countries
Indicator
Scenario
View
 
Time range
From To

Mean temperature anomaly

Scenario
Baseline1981–2010
History to projection2020

Climate tipping points and the risk of crossing them

A climate tipping point is a level of global warming beyond which part of the Earth system shifts into a new state that becomes self-sustaining and, on human timescales, effectively irreversible. The warming thresholds below are best estimates with wide uncertainty. Select an element and drag the warming slider to explore.

—
Illustrative risk that the threshold is exceeded. It rises with warming across the estimated range, and is a qualitative risk indicator, not a physical quantity.

Relevance to China and the United States