Extinction level global warming is defined in this book as temperatures exceeding

preindustrial levels by 5-6° Celsius (9-10.8° Fahrenheit) or the extinction of all planetary
life, or the eventual loss of our atmosphere. If our atmosphere is also lost, this is
referred to as runaway global warming. The result would be similar to what is thought to
have happened to Venus 4 billion years ago, resulting in a carbon-rich atmosphere and
minimum surface temperatures of 462 °C.

The temperature levels described above for irreversible and extinction-level global
warming are not hard and rigid boundaries, but boundary ranges that describe the
related consequences and their intensities within a certain level of global warming.
These temperature boundary levels may be modified by future research. More about
how irreversible global warming and extinction-level global warming can come about
because of complex interactions will be explained in the tipping point information will set
the foundation necessary to understand how we are already creating the conditions that
have not only created irreversible global warming, but also extinction-level global
warming if we keep going as we are now.