Realistic efforts to cut emissions would not result in near - zero temperature increases as previously thought . In addition to greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide , burning fossil fuels causes emissions of short - lived pollutants , such as sulphur dioxide , which form atmospheric clouds . These were thought to cool the climate by absorbing and reflecting incoming shortwave radiation , with some studies indicating a drop in these aerosols could cause a spike in warming . Phys. Academics at Duke and Leeds have suggested the opposite and added aggressive decarbonisation measures also result in benefits for climate mitigation and local air quality over short and long timescales .
Realistic efforts to cut emissions would not result in near - zero temperature increases as previously thought . In addition to greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide , burning fossil fuels causes emissions of short - lived pollutants , such as sulphur dioxide , which form atmospheric clouds . These were thought to cool the climate by absorbing and reflecting incoming shortwave radiation , with some studies indicating a drop in these aerosols could cause a spike in warming . Academics at Duke and Leeds have suggested the opposite and added aggressive decarbonisation measures also result in benefits for climate mitigation and local air quality over short and long timescales .