Climate Change with Scott Amyx - Race to Cut Emissions in Half by 2030

Race to Cut Emissions in Half by 2030

01/17/19 • 1 min

This is Scott Amyx with today’s Climate Change Flash Briefing. A UN-backed scientific panel found that nations have barely a decade to take unprecedented actions to cut emissions in half by 2030 to prevent the worst consequences of climate change. In the next 12 years, it’s estimated that global warming could increase by 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees in Fahrenheit. By year 2100, the U.N. estimates as much as 3 - 5 degree Celsius rise or 5.4 - 9.0 degrees Fahrenheit. The Fourth National Climate Assessment, co-written by hundreds of scientists, finds that climate change is already increasing damage to the U.S. That was followed by another report detailing the growing gap between commitments made at earlier UN conferences and what is needed to steer the planet off its calamitous course. Even China’s top planning agency admitted that three regions -- Liaoning in the northeast Rust Belt and the big coal-producing regions of Ningxia and Xinjiang in the northwest have failed to meet their targets to curb energy consumption growth and improve efficiency last year. Stay tuned next time to find out why cutting emissions is so hard. And to learn more, visit https://ScottAmyx.com/.

Previous Episode

Addiction to Oil

This is Scott Amyx with today’s Climate Change Flash Briefing. One common factor across developed and developing countries has been the continue rise in the consumption of oil in the transportation sector. In EU, the amount of fuel used for flights and road transport has surged by 4 percent. In the U.S., fossil fuels used in cars rose by 1.4 percent. According to researchers, people are driving bigger petrol and diesel cars such as SUVs, and traveling more than before. UN Secretary General António Guterres at the COP24 climate conference commented, “Even as we witness devastating climate impacts causing havoc across the world, we are still not doing enough, nor moving fast enough, to prevent irreversible and catastrophic climate disruption.” Stay tuned next time to find out the dire warning from the UN climate change report. And to learn more, visit https://ScottAmyx.com/.

Next Episode

Not Enough Renewable Energy

This is Scott Amyx with today’s Climate Change Flash Briefing. The problem of cutting emissions is that it leads to difficult economic choices. A growing global economy inevitably stokes more energy demand. The continuing growth in global emissions is happening even though renewable energy sources are growing. It’s just that they’re still far too small. According to Global Carbon Project research authors, “Solar and wind are doing quite well but in China and India, the solar and wind are just filling new demand. Solar and wind are nowhere near big enough yet to replace fossil fuels.” The issue is that of supply-side capacity. Stay tuned next time to find out why the world is so dependent on oil, gas and coal. And to learn more, visit https://ScottAmyx.com/.