Global carbon budget

The Paris Agreement adopted a target for global warming not to exceed 1.5°C. This sets a limit on the additional carbon we can add to the atmosphere – the carbon budget. Only around 17% of the carbon budget is now left. That is about 10 years at current emission rates. 

But there is sufficient uncertainty (indicated by the +- signs in the graphic on the right) across all the components of the carbon cycle that there is a small probability we have no remaining carbon budget. This means that even if emissions were to go to zero today, warming would still exceed 1.5°C.

Fundamental to understanding the global carbon cycle is accurate knowledge of how much carbon is stored in the atmosphere, ocean and terrestrial biosphere – the carbon stocks and the rate of flow, or fluxes, between these stocks.

With forest biomass representing a proxy for stored carbon, ESA's Biomass mission will measure forest biomass, height and disturbance to address gaps in our knowledge of the carbon cycle.