Which Future Will We Choose?

Climate and energy choices this decade will influence how high sea levels rise for hundreds of years.

Copacabana Palace, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

DownloadView on Map
BRA__0__Rio_de_Janeiro__Copacabana_Palace__L13__3p0C__photorealistic.jpg
If we keep our current carbon path
(3°C global warming)
(3°C warming)
BRA__0__Rio_de_Janeiro__Copacabana_Palace__L13__1p5C__photorealistic.jpg
If we sharply cut carbon pollution
(1.5°C global warming)
(1.5°C warming)
1.5°C3°C

These images show projected future sea levels at Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil due to human-caused global warming under two different scenarios. Climate and energy choices in the coming few decades could set the destination, but the timing of rise is more difficult to project: these sea levels may take hundreds of years to be fully realized.