We all know that we can’t afford to burn all of our fossil fuel reserves if we’re to stay within the ‘safe’ climate change of around 2°C average global temperature rise, but a new report last week has revealed just how big the mismatch is between economic and environmental systems.
The new report estimates that burning the coal, oil and gas reserves listed on the world’s stock exchanges would release 762GtCO2 – and this represents only a quarter of the world’s total reserves! Yet we can only burn between 16% to 30% of these ‘assets’ if we are to retain a safe climate. Carbon Tracker calls this mismatch a ‘Six Trillion Dollar carbon bubble’.
Meanwhile an EU report has put the annual cost of extreme weather at €100 billion by 2020, and 250 billion Euros by 2050. Worse, they warn that the failure to take measures to prevent the destruction of crops and property by extreme weather is likely to lead to instability and deeper social divisions.
For the 2002-2011 period, the temperature of the European land area was on average 1.3°C above the pre-industrial level. Southern countries such as Spain, Greece and Cyprus have experienced severe droughts. Other northern countries, including Denmark, have had increased flooding such as we’ve seen here in Britain. Our climate is becoming almost as unstable as our economy!
It seems that if there is one thing that unregulated markets will guarantee, it’s dangerous levels of climate change. We think it’s time to challenge the system and demand that Government takes a firm line, stopping new investment in infrastructure that might make the markets happy today, but at the expense of all of us tomorrow.
They could start with reversing their crazy decision on a new airport at Lydd. What do you think?