Return to ‘substantial warming’ in decades

The slowdown in global warming is temporary and a return to “substantial warming” is expected in coming decades, scientists have said.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) latest study on climate has acknowledged that while predictions of climate change matched the real long-term trend, in the last 15 years warming had slowed compared with the models.

The fifth assessment by the IPCC said the reduction in warming in recent years was down to variation in the climate system, along with volcanic eruptions putting cooling ash into the atmosphere and changes in the sun’s strength.