---
title: "Scientists: Climate Change Is Going to Suck, But It Won’t Be Armageddon"
description: "A new, comprehensive study found that the worst-case, doomsday climate models are unlikely. But best-case scenarios are also out of the question."
date: "2020-07-23"
modified: "2020-07-23"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/climate-change-going-suck-wont-armageddon"
categories:
  - "Climate Change"
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "climate change"
  - "environment"
  - "the digest"
---

# Scientists: Climate Change Is Going to Suck, But It Won’t Be Armageddon

![A new, comprehensive study found that the worst-case, doomsday climate models are unlikely. But best-case scenarios are also out of the question.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/climate-change-going-suck-wont-armageddon.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Images via Pixabay\</em\>*

## Middle Ground

A new study has both good and bad news for the future of the planet.

If atmospheric carbon dioxide levels double, things probably won't get as bad as the doomsday, absolute worst-case projections some scientists have made — but, at the same time, we've already screwed the environment up too much for the best-case outcomes, *[Scientific American ](<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/worst-and-best-case-scenarios-for-warming-less-likely-groundbreaking-study-finds/>)*[reports](<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/worst-and-best-case-scenarios-for-warming-less-likely-groundbreaking-study-finds/>).

The study is "the most important climate science paper that’s come out in several years," Texas A&M University's Andrew Dessler, who didn't work on the research, told *SciAm*.

## Downstream Effects

The study, [published Wednesday](<https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2019RG000678>) in the journal *Reviews of Geophysics*, doesn't predict the future of carbon emissions — it's still [up to humanity](<https://futurism.com/senators-opposing-green-new-deal-fossil-fuel-cash>) to stop burning fossil fuels if we want to survive. Instead, it models how much global temperatures will rise as a result of increased emissions.

The study concluded that there's a 66 percent chance the Earth will heat by 4.9 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit. That's still devastating for civilization and the global ecosystem, but not *quite* as bad as some of the [direst projections](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/doomsday-climate-report-leaders-failed>).

## Cloud Cover

One of the biggest developments was figuring out how climate change will impact clouds, *SciAm* reports, which are [shockingly important](<https://futurism.com/greenhouse-gas-clouds>) for keeping the planet cool. But Dessler says that honing these predictions isn't really the point.

"It's not clear to me how much we would gain from further decreases in the uncertainty," Dessler told *SciAm*. “What this has done, in my opinion, is it’s really moved the game away from these questions about the physics of the climate system into questions about how are humans going to react to climate change."

**READ MORE:** [Worst- and Best-Case Scenarios for Warming Less Likely, Groundbreaking Study Finds](<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/worst-and-best-case-scenarios-for-warming-less-likely-groundbreaking-study-finds/>) \[*Scientific American*\]

**More on climate change:** *[Climate Change Is Eliminating Clouds. Without Them, Earth Burns](<https://futurism.com/greenhouse-gas-clouds>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)