Sixth Mass Extinction Acceleration

Current species extinction rates—100 to 1,000 times higher than the natural baseline—herald what many scientists call the Sixth Mass Extinction, and climate change is a primary accelerator. However, the exact contribution of rising temperatures remains hotly debated because habitat loss and pollution often mask its signal, as seen when comparing its effects to the more direct impact of #9 Ocean Acidification and Fisheries Collapse. A 2023 Nature study estimated that 2.8 million species face heightened extinction risk under a 2°C warming scenario, yet disentangling this from other drivers demands intricate modelling. The debate is far from settled: critics note that current species losses are still 30% lower than the worst‐case projections from the 2019 IPBES report, underscoring the urgency for clearer data amidst conflicting narratives.