Climate Expert Says UN Emissions Report Makes Clear Only Solution Is to 'Cut Off Supply of Fossil Fuels at Their Source'

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Tuesday, November 26, 2019

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Common Dreams

"Climate policy proposals that do not squarely confront the issue of supply are not making a serious attempt to avert catastrophe."

by

Jessica Corbett, staff writer 

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"The urgent, necessary solution is to stop the supply of fossil fuels by banning fracking and all other forms of fossil fuel drilling," says climate campaigner Mitch Jones. (Photo: CGP Grey/Flickr/cc)

An annual United Nations report published Tuesday on current and estimated future greenhouse gas emissions shows the "urgent need for supply-side action" to combat the climate emergency, according to the advocacy group Food & Water Action.

"We have no time left to waste on neoliberal market tweaks that only seek to saddle working families with paying the costs of climate action."
—Mitch Jones, Food & Water Action

Mitch Jones, director of Food & Water Action's Climate & Energy Program, released a statement responding to the new Emissions Gap report from the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP), which warned that global temperatures are on track to rise as much as 3.9°C by the end of the century.

"The most urgent task for policymakers, political leaders, and the global climate justice movement is to demand solutions that cut off the supply of fossil fuels at their source," said Jones. "We have no time left to waste on neoliberal market tweaks that only seek to saddle working families with paying the costs of climate action."

"The urgent, necessary solution is to stop the supply of fossil fuels by banning fracking and all other forms of fossil fuel drilling," he added. "Climate policy proposals that do not squarely confront the issue of supply are not making a serious attempt to avert catastrophe."

UN Environment Programme

✔@UNEP

#EmissionsGap Report:

Developed countries cannot just reduce emissions by exporting carbon pollution to emerging economies.
Footprints need to fall - this means lifestyle changes.
We need a clean energy transformation. #ClimateAction http://bit.ly/2KU0kPb 

Cut global emissions by 7.6 percent every year for next decade to meet 1.5°C Paris target - UN...

On current unconditional pledges, the world is heading for a 3.2°C temperature rise Technologies and policy knowledge exist to cut emissions, but transformations must begin now G20 nations account...

unenvironment.org

Jones' comments on the latest U.N. report echoed recent reactions from experts and climate campaigners to the Greenhouse Gas Bulletin published Monday by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as well as The Production Gap report published last week by UNEP and leading research institutions.

The latter report found that, based on the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, "governments are planning to produce about 50% more fossil fuels by 2030 than would be consistent with a 2°C pathway and 120% more than would be consistent with a 1.5°C pathway."

Jerry Taylor@jerry_jtaylor

The world's on track to produce 120% more fossil fuels than is needed to avoid the worst effects of global warming. This is why it's not crazy to consider supply-side responses like limiting fossil fuel exploration and extraction, at least until we robustly price GhG emissions.

In response to UNEP's findings last week, Leah Stokes, a climate researcher and professor at University of California, Santa Barbara, tweeted, "

We must start grappling with the supply side and start keep fossil fuels in the ground!"

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