Climate Facts: Ocean acidification threshold crossed five years ago, study finds

The complexities of climate change and its associated jargon can prove difficult to digest.

TheCable’s quick climate facts will help demystify these concepts through easy-to-understand and straight-to-the-point explanations.

Here are some to keep at the tip of your fingers:

• A new study warns that children born today are likely to face far greater exposure to extreme climate events throughout their lives compared to previous generations — unless there is a significant reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions.

• According to the report, 95 percent of children born in 2020 from the most vulnerable populations are projected to encounter unprecedented levels of heatwaves in their lifetimes, compared to 78 percent of those from the least vulnerable groups.

• A study found that over the past two decades, extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, and heatwaves have caused an estimated $2.8 trillion in damages globally.

• The report said from 2000 to 2019, the cost of damages from these climate-related disasters averaged around $143 billion annually, which equates to approximately $16.3 million every hour.

• A new study by the UK’s Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) has revealed that the planetary boundary for ocean acidification was crossed around five years ago.

• By 2020, the report noted, average ocean conditions globally had already reached — if not exceeded in some regions — the critical threshold for ocean acidification.