According to a very recent research done by Dutchmen Jan Magnus, Bertrand Melenberg and Chris Muris, the estimates concerning the future rise of global temperature might have been a wee bit on the optimistic side. They say the earth's temperature will rise with over 4 degrees Celsius in the following 50 years if we don't cut back on our CO2 emission. Previous studies concluded a rise in global temperature of around 1 to 3 degrees Celsius for this period.

To reach their higher estimate, the three scientists of the Universiteit van Tilburg analyzed data on solar radiation during the period of 1959 to 2002. Interestingly, one of the reasons for this higher estimate is the decrease of air pollution. Because of this, more of the rays of the sun reach earth's surface. Previous research seemingly did not take this effect into account, which explains the higher estimate of global warming in this study.