Which Future Will We Choose?

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

Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish), Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

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MEX__0__Puerto_Vallarta__Parroquia_de_Nuestra_Senora_de_Guadalupe__L13__3p0C.jpg
If we keep our current carbon path
(3°C global warming)
(3°C warming)
Image © 2021 Maxar Technologies Image Landsat / Copernicus Image © 2021 CNES / Airbus
MEX__0__Puerto_Vallarta__Parroquia_de_Nuestra_Senora_de_Guadalupe__L13__1p5C.jpg
If we sharply cut carbon pollution
(1.5°C global warming)
(1.5°C warming)
Image © 2021 Maxar Technologies Image Landsat / Copernicus Image © 2021 CNES / Airbus
Present-day sea level1.1°C1.5°C2°C3°C4°C

These images show projected future sea levels at Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish) in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 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.