In May, climate scientists announced that global heating will likely surpass the 1.5℃ target enshrined in the 2015 Paris Agreement within the next five years. Meanwhile, the graph depicting the trajectory of ocean surface temperatures, a leading indicator of energy within the global system and an omen foretelling storms to come, now resembles a ski jumper flying far beyond the precipice of past year's peaks, refusing to come down. Across the climate-watching community, fears abound of a looming El Nino climate system precipitating hitherto unknown consequences. Following the past few years of La Nina, the relatively 'cool' phase of the oscillating climate pattern, El Nino promises to bring new and dangerous extremes this year and next. Attempting to plot a pathway through looming catastrophe towards a stable climate, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has issued a set of carbon targets for buildings that are 'anchored in climate science'. Its aim is to 'establish a global pathway for buildings' embodied emissions aligned with 1.5℃, as has already been done in other sectors. Despite the fact this temperature threshold will be breached this decade, the hope - and aim - is that once carbon emissions have been purged from our system, enough carbon dioxide can be sequestered from the atmosphere to restabilise global temperatures at, or below, 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels.
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