The critical Atlantic current system appears significantly more likely to collapse than previously thought after new research found that climate models predicting the biggest slowdown are the most realistic. Scientists called the new finding “very concerning” as a collapse would have catastrophic consequences for Europe, Africa and the Americas.

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is a major part of the global climate system and was already known to be at its weakest for 1,600 years as a result of the climate crisis. Scientists spotted warning signs of a tipping point in 2021 and know that the Amoc has collapsed in the Earth’s past. (...)

The world’s largest carbon emitters owe a huge debt to future generations. Some experts say that debt can be quantified financially.

That’s largely because the negative impacts of climate change won’t fall proportionally to responsibility. Some of the countries most likely to be hit dramatically by the adverse effects of climate change, such as small island nations facing the threat of completely losing their land to rising sea levels, have historic emission contributions that are dwarfed by those of top emitters like the United States.

In a new study, researchers at Stanford developed a quantitative framework to link individual emissions to actual damages that have happened and will happen around the globe. The framework is based on an estimate linking warming temperatures to the GDP of each country, offering a glimpse into the impact climate change is having on our world. The actual impact is likely much more significant since the data doesn’t account for areas that are “poorly captured in GDP data,” the researchers said, like climate-related health problems or the loss of one’s cultural homeland.

According to findings published in Nature on Wednesday, the United States has already caused $10 trillion in global damages from carbon emissions since 1990. Specifically, the researchers were able to link U.S. emissions since 1990 with $500 billion of damage in India, $330 billion in Brazil, and $1.39 trillion in the European Union. The United States’ carbon footprint also took a heavy toll on the nation itself. The researchers estimated that the U.S. has suffered a $16.2 trillion hit from all global carbon emissions since 1990, with $2.97 trillion of this damage stemming directly from American carbon emissions. (...)