Climate Scientists Warn of Looming Disaster

Climate Scientists Warn of Looming Disaster

To avoid dangerous climate change of 2C, the world can only burn another half a trillion tonnes of carbon, climate change experts warn...

Scientists have worked out how much greenhouse gas the world can emit in total without tipping climate change towards catastrophic levels of warming and have warned the world is on course for disaster.

Even the most drastic emissions cuts currently being discussed stand little chance of limiting global warming to safe levels, two studies by scientists in Oxford and Germany have found, prompting calls for a radical rethink on how to tackle climate change.

The findings, to be published on Thursday in the peer review journal Nature, mean that less than a quarter of the world’s proven and economically recoverable fossil fuel reserves can be burnt between now and 2050 to avoid a jump of more than 2ºC above pre-industrial levels, widely regarded by scientists as the limit of safety.

To remain on track with this “carbon budget” Canada would have to leave its oil sands untapped and Saudi Arabia would need to leave most of its oil reserves in the ground to avert disaster...


April 29, 2009

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Climate scientists warn of looming disaster

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6e0372f6-34d4-11de-940a-00144feabdc0.html



Climate countdown: Half a trillion tonnes of carbon left to burn

To avoid dangerous climate change of 2C, the world can only burn another half a trillion tonnes of carbon, climate change experts warn

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/29/fossil-fuels-trillion-tonnes-burned