Scientists warn of ‘giant leap backward’ at climate talks
BONN: Carbon dioxide emissions are set to rise this year after a three-year pause, scientists said at UN climate talks Monday, warning that “time is running out”, even as White House officials used the occasion to champion the fossil fuels that drive global warming.
CO2 emissions, flat since 2014, were forecast to rise two percent in 2017, dashing hopes they had peaked, scientists reported at 12day negotiations in the German city of Bonn ending Friday.
“The news that emissions are rising after a three-year hiatus is a giant leap backward for humankind,” said Amy Luers, a climate policy advisor to Barack Obama and executive director of Future Earth, which co-sponsored the research.
Global CO2 emissions for 2017 were estimated at a record 41 billion tonnes.
“Time is running out on our ability to keep warming below two degrees Celsius, let alone 1.5 degrees Celsius,” said lead author Corinne Le Quere, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia.
The 196-nation Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, calls for capping global warming at 2 degrees Celsius below pre-industrial levels.
With the planet out of kilter after only one degree of warming – enough to amplify deadly heatwaves, droughts, and superstorms – the treaty also vows to explore the feasibility of holding the line at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“As each year ticks by, the chances of avoiding 2 degrees Celsius of warming continue to diminish,” said co-author Glen Peters, research director at Center for International Climate Research in Oslo, Norway.
“Given that 2 degrees Celsius is extremely unlikely based on current progress, then 1.5 degrees Celsius is a distant dream,” he told AFP.
The study identified China as the single largest cause of resurgent fossil fuel emissions in 2017, with the country’s coal, oil and natural gas use up three, five and 12 per cent, respectively.
Earth is overheating due to the burning of oil, gas and especially coal to power the global economy.
That did not discourage US officials from the administration of President Donald Trump from making a case at the UN negotiations for ‘The Role of Cleaner and More Efficient Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power in Climate Mitigation’.
“Without a question, fossil fuels will continue to be used,” George David Banks, a special energy and environment assistant to the US president told a standing-room only audience, citing projections from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Faced with this reality, “we would argue that it’s in the global interest to make sure that when fossil fuels are used, that it’s as clean and efficient as possible.”
Flanked by Francis Brooke from the office of Vice President Mike Pence, and senior representatives of American energy companies, Banks addressed a packed room where protesters shouted “you’re liars!” and “there’s no clean coal!”.
Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, UN special envoy for cities and climate change, tweeted: “Promoting coal at a climate summit is like promoting tobacco at a cancer summit.”
The US is the only country in the world that has opted to remain outside the Paris Agreement. — AFP