If we’re to have a chance of keeping global heating at 1.5 ºC, and if we want to avoid putting the burden of the climate transition on poorer (fossil-fuel producer) nations, then rich countries must completely stop producing oil and gas by 2034.
That was the stark message of the UK’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in a major report released on 22 March.
The report notes that some poorer countries, like South Sudan or Gabon, are so reliant on fossil fuel revenues that ending production rapidly would be immensely destabilising.
Even in developing countries, coal production and use must peak in 2022 and end by 2040.
Topics: Climate change & climate action