When the Paris Agreement was signed by many nations last year, it was celebrated as some magic bullet to fix the earth of global warming. Now, after looking into the details, it’s an unmanageable boondoggle of failed philosophy.
Europe will vastly overshoot its carbon emissions target for coal unless it closes all 300 power stations, says think tank Climate Analytics
A “stress test” was recently ran in order to gauge how European Nations would have to meet the agreements demands on carbon emissions and the results are lunatic at best.
The European Union will “vastly overshoot” its Paris climate pledges unless its coal emissions are completely phased out within 15 years, a stress test of the industry has found.
Coal’s use is falling by about 1% a year in Europe but still generates a quarter of the continent’s power – and a fifth of its greenhouse gas emissions.
If Europe’s 300 coal plants run to the end of their natural lifespans, the EU nations will exceed their carbon budget for coal by 85%, according to a report by the respected think tank Climate Analytics. It says the EU would need to stop using coal for electricity generation by 2030.
“Not only would existing coal plants exceed the EU’s emissions budget, but the 11 planned and announced plants would raise EU emissions to almost twice the levels required to keep warming to the Paris agreement’s long term temperature goal,” said Dr Michiel Schaeffer, Climate Analytics science director.
Read the rest here via TheGuardian.com
