Only 20 years left to save green earth

Nitin Sethi | TNN

New Delhi: The world must restrict its carbon emissions to 190 giga tonnes by 2050 if it is to have a chance of escaping the catastrophic consequences of global warming.

These are the latest findings published in the scientific journal Nature. According to the findings, all earlier calculations have been set aside with the warning that the planet can withstand even less of the greenhouse gases than had been envisaged earlier. The warning has never been starker or simpler for everyone to understand.

The latest studies show that there is a 75% chance that the world can escape the danger of global average temperature rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius over the pre-industrial era if it is able to keep its carbon emissions below 190 giga tonnes (gt) over the next 41 years.

Put simply, 190 giga tonnes is our carbon budget for the period up to 2050. But unlike a financial budget, there is no room for exceeding it. A 75% chance is, in scientific terms, reasonable, and nothing to be ecstatic about—but enough to give hope.

If you think 190 gt is a huge amount of carbon to throw up in the air, read this—last year alone, the world emitted more than nine giga tonnes of carbon by burning fossil fuels.

‘West must cut emissions drastically’
New Delhi: The world emitted over nine giga tonnes of carbon by burning fossil fuels in the last year and the rate is increasing by 3% every year. We must restrict the carbon emission to save the world from illeffects global warming, say latest findings published in scientific journal Nature.

If humanity continues to burn fossil fuels and gases unhindered at the same rate, the world will have consumed the entire carbon budget available to us—190 giga tonnes—by 2029. Every single tonne of carbon after that will progressively reduce our chances of not letting temperatures increase above the 2 degree Celsius mark over the pre-industrialised era and consequently cause havoc. For those who may have forgotten the warning put out in 2007 by scientists under the UN’s panel on climate change, here it is again—if global average temperatures ever rise more than 2 degrees Celsius over the pre-industrial era, the world will see the irreversible and catastrophic impact of climate change.

Two studies published in the latest edition of Nature warn world leaders that they are failing their people, and failing miserably. Both studies use a common principle.

Both warn it’s not just the emissions at present but the total accumulated emissions since the industrial era that will determine how much time we have to avert a crisis.

The world must cut emissions faster and deeper. The carbon budget is like a cake, much of which has been eaten by the developed world. For the budget to be adhered to, industrialised countries have to lower emissions dramatically. TNN