Top 10 Most Debated Climate Change Effects

Estimates range from 0.3 to over 2 metres by 2100 depending on emissions scenarios and ice sheet models, with profound implications for coastal cities housing hundreds of millions of people.

Research suggests the Amazon could cross a tipping point and convert from rainforest to savanna, releasing billions of tonnes of stored carbon, though the exact threshold remains scientifically uncertain.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is weakening, and some models predict a full collapse could plunge Western Europe into dramatically colder winters while disrupting global monsoon systems.

At 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, 70 to 90 percent of tropical coral reefs could die; at 2 degrees, the figure rises above 99 percent, threatening the livelihoods of 500 million people worldwide.

Arctic permafrost contains roughly 1,500 billion tonnes of organic carbon, and thawing could release methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than CO2 over 20 years, potentially triggering runaway warming.

Attribution science now links specific heatwaves, floods, and hurricanes to climate change, but quantifying exactly how much each event was amplified remains a developing and contentious field.

The World Bank projects up to 216 million internal climate migrants by 2050, but the intersection of climate, conflict, and economic factors makes precise displacement forecasting deeply controversial.

Absorbed CO2 is making oceans 30 percent more acidic than pre-industrial levels, dissolving shellfish and disrupting marine food chains that over one billion people depend on for protein.

Current species extinction rates are 100 to 1,000 times the natural baseline, and while climate change is a major driver, disentangling its impact from habitat loss and pollution fuels ongoing scientific debate.

Estimates range from 0.3 to over 2 metres by 2100 depending on emissions scenarios and ice sheet models, with profound implications for coastal cities housing hundreds of millions of people.

Research suggests the Amazon could cross a tipping point and convert from rainforest to savanna, releasing billions of tonnes of stored carbon, though the exact threshold remains scientifically uncertain.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is weakening, and some models predict a full collapse could plunge Western Europe into dramatically colder winters while disrupting global monsoon systems.

At 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, 70 to 90 percent of tropical coral reefs could die; at 2 degrees, the figure rises above 99 percent, threatening the livelihoods of 500 million people worldwide.

Arctic permafrost contains roughly 1,500 billion tonnes of organic carbon, and thawing could release methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than CO2 over 20 years, potentially triggering runaway warming.

Attribution science now links specific heatwaves, floods, and hurricanes to climate change, but quantifying exactly how much each event was amplified remains a developing and contentious field.

The World Bank projects up to 216 million internal climate migrants by 2050, but the intersection of climate, conflict, and economic factors makes precise displacement forecasting deeply controversial.

Absorbed CO2 is making oceans 30 percent more acidic than pre-industrial levels, dissolving shellfish and disrupting marine food chains that over one billion people depend on for protein.

Current species extinction rates are 100 to 1,000 times the natural baseline, and while climate change is a major driver, disentangling its impact from habitat loss and pollution fuels ongoing scientific debate.