Climate crisis: Third of Antarctic ice shelf area ‘at risk of collapse’ if emissions aren’t rapidly reduced

Antarctica’s imperilled ice shelves are the only barrier maintaining the world’s coastlines as we currently know them, writes Harry Cockburn

The ice shelves around Antarctica are an essential barrier, holding huge volumes of ice on the continent (Getty)

The ice shelves which fringe Antarctica could be at major risk of collapse, potentially releasing “unimaginable” amounts of water into the ocean, if temperatures reach 4C above pre-industrial levels, research has warned.

The UN’s IPCC has already said that as current global heating trends continue and if emissions are not rapidly halted, then our planet is on course to see average temperature rises pushing towards 4C by the end of the century.

In this scenario, more than a third of the Antarctic’s ice shelf area could be at risk of collapsing into the sea, the researchers claim.