Chance of 'catastrophic' climate change completely wiping out humanity by 2100 is now 1-in-20

Humanity could be destroyed by 'catastrophic' climate change within the next century, the Daily Mail reports, citing findings my US researches.

The researchers have said that there is a 1 in 20 change we'll be wiped out in the next 100 years as a result of "low-probability high-impact" events.

They reportedly say an increase greater than 3°C could lead to 'catastrophic' effects.

However an increase of more than 5°C will  “unknown” consequences which could lead to the end of life as we know it. 

Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a professor of climate and atmospheric sciences at the University of California said: 'When we say five per cent-probability high-impact events, people may dismiss it as small but it is equivalent to a one-in-20 chance the plane you are about to board will crash.'

Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego have used this analogy to try and illustrate the situation currently facing the planet.

They performed calculations to work out what would happen if temperatures rose by varying degrees between now and 2100.
 

“We would never get on that plane with a one-in-20 chance of it coming down but we are willing to send our children and grandchildren on that plane,” said Ramanathan.