The world must slash the output of gas, coal, and oil in the next ten years or global warming will reach dangerous levels, a U.N.-backed study released Wednesday demanded, before lamenting nobody appears to be heeding its continued advice on the matter as fossil fuel production is set to soar over next decade.
The report published by the U.N. Environment Program found while national governments have made ambitious pledges to curb greenhouse gas emissions, they are still not getting even close to matching promises to eliminate the fossil fuel industry that powers the global economy.
Many actually look to extract double the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than what would be consistent with the 2015 Paris climate accord’s goal of keeping the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
The inaction has infuriated the U.N. as well as the celebrities and politicians who constantly warn of an impending climate crisis unless “something is done” by first world nations.
Even the less ambitious goal of capping global warming at 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times would be overshot, it said.
The report, which was released days before a U.N. climate summit begins Oct. 31 in Glasgow, found most major oil and gas producers — and even some major coal producers — are planning on increasing production until 2030 or even beyond.
It also concluded the group of 20 major industrialized and emerging economies have invested more into new fossil fuel projects than into clean energy since the start of 2020.
The U.N. call for more immediate action comes after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in August that fossil fuels are destroying the planet and the “death knell” must be sounded for coal, oil and gas production.
As Breitbart News reported, the veteran Portuguese Socialist said an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report also concluded the 1.5C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement would likely be breached around 2030 — a decade earlier than it itself projected just three years ago.
Guterres called the IPCC’s assessment — the most detailed review of climate science ever conducted — “code red for humanity.”
“This report must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels, before they destroy our planet,” he said in a statement. “Countries should also end all new fossil fuel exploration and production, and shift fossil fuel subsidies into renewable energy.”
AP contributed to this story