We will have a fossil fuel-free economy by 2100. That’s according to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who announced today that the G7 nations have agreed to “decarbonise the global economy in the course of this century.”
The G7’s agreement is more of a goal than it is a hard-and-fast plan, but it’s still a big deal.
This week world leaders are meeting Bonn, Germany for preliminary talks before this fall’s climate summit in Paris.
Apparently, the talks haven’t been going very well, but maybe, just maybe, today’s announcement from the G7 will kick them into gear.That being said, even if the G7 nations do phase out fossil fuels by the end of the century, it won’t be enough to prevent severe damage to the planet - and to the human race.
Michael Mann, a frequent guest on this program and one of the world’s leading climate scientists, estimates that
we only have until 2036 -- 21 years -- to prevent the Earth’s temperature from rising 2 degrees Celsius, the standard cutoff point for “acceptable” levels of warming.
After we cross that 2 degrees Celsius threshold, global warming will lock in with devastating consequences for every single living thing on this planet
Other scientists, like James Hansen, have an even gloomier view of how much more warming the planet can take. In a recent interview with an Australian radio station, for example,
Hansen called the 2 degrees Celsius number “nonsense” and warned that it’s “a prescription for disaster.” Hansen now argues that we need to lower the limit of “acceptable” warming to 1 degree Celsius -
a number we’re already dangerously close to reaching.
Whether you agree with James Hansen that we need to limit warming to 1 degree Celsius or with Michael Mann that we need to focus on 2 degrees, one thing is clear: we must stop using fuels way before the end of the century if we want to stave off total climate devastation.
Which raises the question: If the stakes are so high when it comes to global warming, why aren’t doing more right now to clamp down on greenhouse gas emissions and move towards renewable power?
