Our planet may see a temperature increase of 2 to 4.9 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, much higher than the target of 1.5 degrees set by the 2016 Paris Agreement. <br/><br/>A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change says there is only a five per cent chance that the Earth will warm two degrees or less by the end of this century. The study underlines that damages from heat extremes, drought, extreme weather and sea level rise will be much more severe if two degrees Celsius or higher temperature rise is allowed. <br/><br/>Lead author of the study, Adrian Raftery, professor at University of Washington in the US said even the goal of two degrees is achievable only with major, sustained effort on all fronts over the next 80 years. <br/>The research focused on three quantities that underpin the scenarios for future emissions: total world population, gross domestic product per person and the amount of carbon emitted for each dollar of economic activity, known as carbon intensity.