|
Philip Sutton |
2 September 2000 |
THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION'S 22nd
REPORT:
Energy - The Changing Climate June 2000
ROYAL COMMISSION CALLS FOR
TRANSFORMATION IN THE UK'S USE OF
ENERGY TO COUNTER CLIMATE CHANGE
As a contribution to global
efforts to prevent climate change running out of control, the United
Kingdom should plan for a reduction of 60% over the next 50 years in
the amounts of carbon dioxide it produces by burning fossil fuels.
This is one of the key conclusions of a major report published today
by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. The report
- Energy – The Changing Climate - explores what that will mean
for industry and ordinary households, and how government policies
need to change.
Fossil Fuels and Climate Protection - The Carbon Logic 1997 Greenpeace International Report
Preventing dangerous climate change will involve limiting both the
rate and magnitude of climate change over the next century to levels
that natural and human systems can tolerate without significant
damage. This report shows the implications for overall fossil fuel
use, in the form of a "carbon budget", over the next
century if the global community is to prevent dangerous climate
change.
It is demonstrated that it is only possible to
burn a small fraction of the total oil, coal and gas that has already
been discovered, if such dangerous changes are to be avoided. Even
the reserves of fossil fuels that are considered economic to recover
now, with no advances in technology, are far greater than the total
allowable "carbon budget'.
This conclusion is shown
to be robust to a wide range of assumptions about how sensitive the
climate is to human interference, and the levels of change that might
be considered unacceptable or dangerous.
Comparison of
the "carbon budget" with projections of possible future
energy sources nevertheless suggests that such a target is both
technically and economically feasible.
The "carbon
budget" will be used up by 2020 at the current rate of increase
in fossil fuel energy use. A phase out of the use of fossil fuels
needs to begin now.
Author: Philip Sutton