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Cut fossil fuel use ‘dramatically’ to meet climate goals, says Shell-backed report
(Eco Business, 26 Apr 2017) The use of fossil fuel, particularly coal and oil, must decline “sharply” if the world is to meet the goals of the Paris accord, according to a new report backed by energy giants Shell and BHP Billiton.
Global coal use must be cut by 70 per cent within 25 years, oil use must fall 30 per cent and gas can increase by only 2 per cent out to 2040. The growing global population will instead get its energy from a huge expansion of renewables, combined with more efficient energy use and other low-carbon technologies.
Those are the conclusions of the Energy Transitions Commission, a group set up in 2013 by a cross-section of major firms, NGOs and academics. Its conclusions broadly align with other pathways for 2C and below, but the commission’s membership adds an interesting twist to the findings.
Paris pathway
The commission’s report sets out a pathway to keeping temperatures well-below 2C above pre-industrial temperatures, in line with the less ambitious end of the Paris Agreement on climate change. It says this path is hugely challenging, but that it is “technically and economically possible”, and that it would bring “important additional social benefits…and economic opportunities”.
Eco Business, 26 Apr 2017: Cut fossil fuel use ‘dramatically’ to meet climate goals, says Shell-backed report 
