Ed HawkinsJul 30, 2023

As the UK is poised to issue licenses to drill for new sources of oil & gas, it is perhaps worth remembering that:

1. UK & every nation signed Paris Agreement to pursue efforts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C

2. UK & every nation endorsed IPCC conclusion that if world burns all fossil fuels it already has access to then global temperature rise will exceed 1.5°C

Show threadHypx

@ed_hawkins Nobody is serious about their Paris Agreement pledge. This is just political greenwashing.

A 1.5°C increase is already guaranteed. People need to stop deceiving themselves and accept reality.

People need to stop pretending we can cut our way out of this. It's time we start seriously looking at ideas like #geoengineering or atmospheric carbon removal. And if not, then we must accept climate change as unavoidable.

Jul 31, 2023 at 6:03amWeb
Show threadPeter KrausJul 31, 2023
@Hypx @ed_hawkins Saying that cutting emissions is worthless (which is how I understood your post) is dangerous. The same way you can't outrun the fork, we won't be able to magic our way out without reducing emissions in the first place. And we might still need that magic to re-capture what we've emitted until 2050...
Show threadHypxJul 31, 2023
@pkraus @ed_hawkins No one said that. The point is that we cannot cut emissions at anything like the speed necessary. We should set real goals and not fantasies like the Paris Agreement. We are still currently projected to _increase_ fossil fuel consumption, and there is currently no plan to even address this immediate term problem.
Show threadPeter KrausJul 31, 2023
@Hypx @ed_hawkins I think the problem with having what's "achievable" as a target for a plan is not good enough. The Paris agreement was achievable, until it wasn't. You have to aim higher and not settle for anything less than good (which is below 1.5°C), because you can be sure "the economy" will want to squeeze every bit of cash it can while it can.
Show threadHypxJul 31, 2023
@pkraus @ed_hawkins It was never achievable. "Aiming high" is just an excuse. It's akin to inventing nuclear fusion in 5 years time. All it did was distract from serious proposals that could produce tangible results. Instead, we pursued fantasies that did nearly nothing.