Great damage has been done, but we still have 8 years before natural positive feedbacks lead to our extinction.   Sea level will continue to rise even if we disappear right now, but that is "minor" compared to poison gas bubbling out of the ocean and killing almost everything including all of the people.
See the chart on page 274 of "Six Degrees" by Mark Lynas.   We have until 2015 to BEGIN REDUCING our total CO2 output and we have until 2050 to actually reduce our CO2 output by 90%.   The curve has to start down by 2015, not we have to think about it by then.   The peak of our CO2 production has to happen in the next 8 years.   Sorry, but we can't wait for research, no matter how interesting.   
We have to implement what we know right now.   The only technology we have right now to replace coal fired power plants is nuclear power plants.   I like solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal, but all of them together cannot replace the base load capacity of coal.   Sorry, but nuclear is the only option.   If we don't follow the schedule in Six Degrees, we will encounter positive feedbacks which will take the control of the climate out of our hands.   Civilization may fall anyway well before 2050, but we can avoid going extinct by 2100.   We have to hold the CO2 level to 400 parts per million to have a 75% chance of avoiding the positive feedbacks.