Majority of fossil fuels must stay in the ground to limit warming below critical threshold
To avoid the worst consequences of climate change — worsening extreme weather, irreversible ecosystem shifts, loss of life and economic hardship — scientists say the world must limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The only way to do that, they say, is by making deep cuts to fossil fuel emissions.
New research quantifies exactly what it would take: keeping a vast majority of Earth's remaining fossil fuels tucked underground.
The study, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, found that nearly 60% of the planet's remaining oil and natural gas and 90% of its coal reserves should remain in the ground by 2050, underscoring that most regions around the world must reach peak fossil fuel production now or within the next decade to avoid the critical climate threshold.
"Dramatic cuts in fossil fuel production are required immediately in order to move towards limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees," Dan Welsby, the lead author of the report and researcher at University College London, said at a Tuesday news conference. "But the current and indicated fossil fuel production trajectories globally are moving us in the wrong direction."
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