anlomedadEver heard how RCP8.5 is bullshit?
Read this nice writeup to wipe your memory chips https://progressivereform.org/publications/rcp-8-point-5-is-fine-actually/
If you haven't heard it before, just bookmark the link and dig it out in case someone claims it were.
tldr: while fossil fuels, namely coal, isn't available to reach the emissions to produce RCP8.5, the scenario is nonetheless important for research. Ecological impacts already researched for that scenario help to inform us if day-to-day weather extremes resemble this worst-case scenario. And they already do, and are increasingly being modelled for our future, for example in this new study where heat extremes in particular reach RCP8.5 levels at global mean 2°C https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10237-9
Also, if humans do not burn all that coal required for RCP8.5, then permafrost and wetlands can still produce feedbacks that reach that level of GHG and warming anyway. 🖖🏽
