Ecological effects

The IPCC highlights that global warming of more than around 2°C and heightened CO2 concentrations could result in significant changes to the geographical spread of species.

This would mainly have a negative impact on biodiversity and would threaten 20-30% of animal and plant species. Ecological effects could also result in changes to the carbon cycle, which could in turn affect global warming and accelerate it even further.

Source: IPCC (2007): Fourth Assessment Report, Working Group 2, Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability