The Emissions Gap Report 2022 was issued last week, and the situation continues to follow the most serious trajectory envisioned in the IPCC reports. I says that countries are not on track to reduce emissions, and will set a record high this year. (The ’emissions gap’ is the amount by which emissions exceed the level needed for a stable climate.)
UN Secretary General António Guterres warned that ‘we are headed for a global catastrophe,’ and that we need to ‘Invest massively in renewables — a win-win-win solution for climate action, guaranteeing energy security, providing affordable access to electricity, and generating new jobs.’
Science now projects 2.8°C global warming by the end of the century, and the report makes clear that ‘GHG emissions must be reduced by 45 per cent compared with … policies currently in place in just eight years.’ This will require changes in land use, an end to deforestation, and an end to burning fossil fuels. The U.S has the highest per-capita GHG emissions of any country, but it seems clear that our so-called leaders are incapable of solving the problems. New fossil fuel permits and infrastructure are part of the problem, but I think if enough of us demand action, the politicians will follow.
There’s no time to waste!
Also see:
- Phoebe Plummer on the Just Stop Oil action
- Urgent Warning from António Guterres (U.N. Secretary General)
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