Coral reefs can only be saved if we manage to bring global temperatures down as scientists warn of potentially irreversible planetary change.
In its second Global Tipping Points report, a team at the University of Exeter have outlined how rising ocean temperatures, acidification, pollution and overfishing are causing coral bleaching and death, with vast numbers of reefs being lost unless global temperatures are brought back closer to 1C of warming.
‘We’ve crossed a tipping point in the climate system, and we’re now sure we’re going to carry on through 1.5°C of global warming above the prior industrial level, and that’s going to put us in the danger zone for crossing more climate tipping points,’ said Tim Lenton, founding director at the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute , who led on the report.
The World Meteorological Organization has predicted Earth will cross the 1.5C warming threshold by 2030, if not sooner. This means extreme weather will become normalised, impacting food systems, supply chains, and access to running water. Scientists have identified 25 tipping points which will be triggered as the planet heats, including transformation of the Amazon rainforest into dry savannah, and the disappearance of polar sea ice, leading to more oceanic warming.
As per day contributed by 160 researchers in 23 countries, it is now believed the first of these critical, irreversible changes is underway. Since 2023, reefs have been regularly passing their thermal limits, leaving little chance they can successfully grow back in between bleaching, heat waves, and other devastating events caused by unnaturally high temperatures.
These vital ecosystems – which are pivotal in supporting marine and human life, including global fisheries – has one of the lowest tipping pint thresholds. The report also suggests the Amazon’s dieback tipping point is closer and lower than we estimated, and could be triggered by 1.5C warming. Last month, the 2025 Planetary Health Check offered similarly stark news, with seven of nine ‘planetary boundaries’ now exceeded, meaning our home world is becoming significantly less hospitable and more likely to begin breaching tipping points.
Image: Karl Callwood / Unsplash
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