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Coal-fired power plant in the Czech Republic: emissions would have to be drastically reduced worldwide in order to achieve climate targets
Photo: Kamil Petran / iStockphoto / Getty Images
Can the Paris climate goals still be achieved?
That is increasingly in question.
A recent analysis shows that simply burning most of the currently known fossil fuels would release more greenhouse gas emissions than have occurred since the industrial revolution.
If governments allowed the extraction and use of these coal, oil and gas reserves, 3.5 trillion tons of greenhouse gas emissions would be released.
That's the conclusion of a new analysis by the Carbon Tracker Initiative reported by the Guardian.
However, the remaining global budget of greenhouse gases that the global community is likely to emit to still have a chance of meeting the 1.5 degree target is 400 to 500 billion tons.
According to the report, this is how scientists appreciate it.
In order to be able to reach this target, emissions would have to be reduced by half in the current decade and to zero by the middle of the century.
The US alone has the potential to release almost 600 billion tons of emissions from its currently known fossil fuel reserves, particularly coal.
Russia could also use up the global budget with the identified fossil fuels alone - and release almost 500 billion tons of greenhouse gases, according to the Guardian.
The country is also currently working on projects to find additional deposits.
Their emissions are said to amount to a further 600 billion tons.
According to the report, China, India and Australia “each have enough fossil fuel reserves to bring the world to the brink of climate collapse.”
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According to the Guardian, the analysis is based on the first public database on fossil fuel production.
"The Global Registry of Fossil Fuels is the first fully transparent, public database that records the worldwide production of fossil fuels and their impact on the global carbon balance," says a statement from the initiative.
The register would use openly available data in combination with a new emissions conversion model.
In this way, the extent of the CO2 emissions associated with the national reserves and production of the individual countries can be shown.
This will help governments and policymakers address the fundamental question of how a global just transition away from fossil fuels is possible to achieve the Paris goals.
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