--- title: "New Research: Human Civilization Will Likely Collapse By 2050" description: "A distressing Australian climate change analysis has some pretty bad news: human civilization is set out to collapse by 2050 if we ignore climate change." date: "2019-06-03" modified: "2019-06-03" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/new-research-human-civilization-collapse-2050" categories: - "Climate Change" - "Environment" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "apocalypse" - "climate change" - "global warming" - "the digest" --- # New Research: Human Civilization Will Likely Collapse By 2050 ![A distressing Australian climate change analysis has some pretty bad news: human civilization is set out to collapse by 2050 if we ignore climate change.]() *\Image: ntnvnc via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\* ## Doom and Gloom A distressing Australian climate change analysis has some bad news: human civilization is set out to collapse by 2050 if don't grapple with the imminent threat of climate change. The [analysis]() concludes that climate change is "a current and existential national security risk" that "threatens the premature extinction of Earth-originating intelligent life or the permanent and drastic destruction of its potential for desirable future development." In other words, the world is "on a path to the end of human civilisation and modern society as we have known it." ## Point of No Return By 2050, human systems could reach a "point of no return" in which "the prospect of a largely uninhabitable Earth leads to the breakdown of nations and the international order." Therefore, the paper calls for "society-wide, emergency mobilisation of labour and resources" that would be "akin in scale to the World War II emergency mobilization," argues the paper. ## End of Humanity Part of that solution would be a "Marshall Plan-style construction of zero-carbon-dioxide energy supply and major electrification to build a zero-carbon industrial strategy." The goal: limit global warming to just 1.5 degrees Celsius, not the three degrees Celsius previous reports [have warning about](). "Even for 2°C of warming, more than a billion people may need to be relocated and in high-end scenarios, the scale of destruction is beyond our capacity to model with a high likelihood of human civilization coming to an end," the report reads. **READ MORE:** [New Report Suggests ‘High Likelihood of Human Civilization Coming to an End’ in 2050]() \[*Vice*\] **More on climate change:** *[Climate Change Is Thawing out the Corpses on Mt. Everest]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()