fossil fuel plans undermine climate pledges

FOSSIL FUEL PLANS UNDERMINE CLIMATE PLEDGES HOW TO

The International Energy Agency recently looked at what would be needed to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Major automakers like Ford and General Motors are investing heavily in electric vehicles and preparing to phase down sales of gasoline- and diesel-powered cars.īut that’s just a start. Many countries are now planning significant expansions of wind and solar power and canceling plans for new coal plants. Over the past decade, governments and businesses have slowly begun nudging the global economy away from its longstanding reliance on fossil fuels. “The world’s governments must step up, taking rapid and immediate steps to close the fossil fuel production gap and ensure a just and equitable transition,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program. The world has already heated up roughly 1.1 degrees since the Industrial Revolution. Scientists and world leaders increasingly say that holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is crucial if humanity wants to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate change, such as ever-deadlier heat waves, large scale flooding and widespread extinctions. Taken together, those countries are currently planning to produce more than twice as much oil, gas and coal through 2030 as would be needed if governments want to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. The report looked at future mining and drilling plans in 15 major fossil fuel producing countries, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Canada, China, India and Norway. The Summit is a space for countries to start aligning coal production - as well as oil and gas supply - with the Paris goals.WASHINGTON - Even as world leaders vow to take stronger action on climate change, many countries are still planning to dramatically increase their production of oil, gas and coal in the decades ahead, potentially undermining those lofty pledges, according to a United Nations-backed report released Tuesday. The UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in September 2019 is a key part of this process, with the Secretary-General calling on governments to enhance ambitions and to stop building new coal plants in 2020. Countries are in the process of preparing new or updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which set out their new emission reduction plans and climate pledges under the Paris Agreement.

The 2019–2020 period is an opportune moment to bridge this production gap. It also lays out how countries can keep fossil fuel production in line with climate goals. This brief shares preliminary findings, which suggest that the world is on track to produce 50% more fossil fuels by 2030 than would be consistent with a 2☌ pathway and 120% more than would be consistent with a 1.5☌ pathway. The report will provide a reference point to measure progress, simply presenting the divergence between the current course of global fossil fuel production and future pathways consistent with Paris goals. It will show how current national plans, projections, and policies would significantly increase fossil fuel production, and could thereby potentially undermine countries’ emission reduction plans.

FOSSIL FUEL PLANS UNDERMINE CLIMATE PLEDGES HOW TO

The Production Gap Report - set for release in November 2019 - will equip decision-makers with a resource on how to better align fossil fuel production with climate objectives. This gap stymies climate ambitions by locking in fossil fuel infrastructure that will make emission reductions harder and more costly to achieve. This emissions gap is related to - and widened by - the “production gap.” Countries continue to expand the production of coal, oil, and gas, creating a significant gap between that expansion and what is possible to use within the limits of a 1.5☌ or 2☌ carbon budget. Current climate pledges will only limit global warming to about 3☌ above preindustrial levels, by the end of the century the UN Environment Emissions Gap Report estimates that countries need to triple their emission reduction pledges to limit warming to the Paris goal of “well below” 2☌ and increase reductions fivefold for a 1.5☌ scenario. As countless studies show, countries must significantly reduce their emissions to meet the Paris Agreement goals.

Fossil fuel plans undermine climate pledges