Soaring fossil fuel production set to greatly exceed Paris accord's goal
The world’s top 10
fossil fuel-producing countries are on track to extract far more oil, gas and coal
by 2030 than scientists say the planet can handle without experiencing catastrophic
warming, according to a report published Wednesday.
The first-of-its-kind
analysis - conducted by scientists at six organizations, including the nonprofit
Stockholm Environment Institute and the United Nations Environment
Programme―measured for the so-called production gap between the goals set in
the 2015 Paris climate accord and projections for fossil
fuel production in China, the United States, Russia, India, Australia,
Indonesia, Canada, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom. [...]
“The discrepancy between
national policies―the climate change policies and fossil fuel production
policies―highlights there is much more that needs to be done both at country
level and international climate negotiations to put a sharpened and increased
focus on fossil fuels,” Niklas Hagelberg, the UN Environment Programme’s
climate change coordinator, said on a call with reporters Tuesday morning.
[...]
Assuming the fuels
extracted will be burned, the combined oil, gas and coal production is on pace
to be 50% higher than would be consistent with a goal to limit global warming
to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial averages ―
the target to which nearly every country on Earth agreed in the Paris
Agreement. Coal mining alone is 150% greater than the production goal that
would keep warming in that zone, despite the conventional narrative that coal
production is declining. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/11/21/1901044/-Open-thread-for-night-owls-Soaring-fossil-fuel-production-set-to-greatly-exceed-Paris-accord-s-goal
