In the State of the Cryosphere 2024 – Lost Ice, Global Damage report, more than 50 leading cryosphere scientists warn of escalating global economic impacts and severe consequences due to accelerating losses in Earth's snow and ice regions. The report highlights that current climate commitments, which are projected to result in well over 2°C of warming, would cause catastrophic and irreversible harm to billions of people as a result of global ice loss.
Drawing on the latest cryosphere science from 2024, the authors emphasize that the costs of loss and damage will be even more severe than previously estimated. Many regions are likely to face sea-level rise and water resource depletion that exceed adaptation capacities within this century if emissions continue at current levels, potentially leading to a 3°C rise or more. The report also warns that mitigation efforts will become significantly more expensive due to feedback loops triggered by thawing permafrost and the loss of sea ice.
For the first time, the report notes a growing scientific consensus that melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are contributing to the slowing of critical ocean currents at both poles. This slowdown could have grave consequences, including a much colder northern Europe and accelerated sea-level rise along the U.S. East Coast.
Reviewed and endorsed by over 50 cryosphere experts, this latest installment in the State of the Cryosphere series provides an annual assessment of the planet's snow and ice regions. The cryosphere encompasses ice sheets, glaciers, snow, permafrost, sea ice, and polar oceans—regions that are acidifying at rates far exceeding those of warmer waters. The report details how the combined impacts of melting ice sheets, shrinking glaciers, and thawing permafrost are driving rapid, irreversible, and globally devastating changes.