Scientists have created a model to show how the climate would be affected if, in fifty years' time, the world suddenly stopped the burning of fossil fuels which produces CO2 emissions. The model assumed that by then CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere would be double pre- industrial levels. The scientists calculated that although levels of CO2 would fall as the oceans absorbed it, only one quarter of the CO2 in the atmosphere would have been absorbed in this way by the time the oceans had reached saturation point. The result would be a very small reduction in average global temperatures over the next 1000 years, there would be regular droughts, and sea levels would rise by up to a metre. So if the calculations as to the amount of CO2 that the oceans can absorb are correct, we cannot avoid the disastrous consequences of climate change.