1/17/18 AFP quotes scientists who believe it is anthropogenic as warning:
That "known unknown" is called equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS), and for the last 25 years the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- the ultimate authority on climate science -- has settled on a range of 1.5 C to 4.5 C (2.7 to 8.1 degrees Fahrenheit).
Cox and colleagues, using a new methodology, have come up with a far narrower range: 2.2 C to 3.4 C, with a best estimate of 2.8 C (5 F).
If accurate, it precludes the most destructive doomsday scenarios.
"These scientists have produced a more accurate estimate of how the planet will respond to increasing CO2 levels," said Piers Forster, director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate at the University of Leeds.
Gabi Hegerl, a climate scientist at the University of Edinburgh who, like Forster, did not take part in the research, added: "Having lower probability for very high sensitivity is reassuring.
"Very high sensitivity would have made it extremely hard to limit climate change according to the Paris targets."
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