Keeping earth liveable

Paris – Nearly 200 nations gathered yesterday to grapple with a question that will outlive Covid and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: how does a world addicted to fossil fuels prevent carbon pollution from making earth unliveable?

A partial answer is set for 4 April after closed-door, virtual negotiations approve a report detailing options for drawing down greenhouse gases and extracting them from the air.

“The impacts are costly and mounting but we still have some time to close the window and get ahead of the worst of them if we act now,” said Alden Meyer, a senior analyst at climate and energy think-tank E3G. “This report will supply the answers as to what we need if we’re serious about getting there.”

In August last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) laid out the physical science: the pace of global warming and sea level rise, along with shifts in the frequency, duration and intensity of cyclones, heatwaves and droughts.

That was part one in a three-part assessment, the sixth since 1990. Part two of the IPCC report details past and future climate impacts and the limits of our ability to adapt. Delaying climate action would severely reduce the chances of a “livable future,” it concluded.

Part three is about how to keep planet-warming gases out of the atmosphere, with chapters on the key sectors where rapid and deep change is needed: energy, transport, industry, agriculture, among others.

The focus is on weaning the global economy off fossil fuels and moving to low- or zero-carbon sources of energy, from solar, wind to nuclear, hydro and hydrogen. Renewable energy is now cheaper than that generated by fossil fuels in many markets. –