Study: IPCC asks emerging countries to drop coal faster than rich nations did

(Climate Home News, 15 Feb 2023) The scientists who plan out how to limit global warming to 1.5C have asked coal-reliant countries to phase out the fuel faster than is realistic, a new study says.

The study published in the journal Nature found that a typical 1.5C energy transition model expects nations like China, India and South Africa to get off coal faster than any country has ever got off any energy source before.

But these models ask for much slower reductions in oil and gas – fuels that tend to be produced and used more in wealthy countries.

The study’s lead author Greg Muttitt told Climate Home that these models are amplified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) scientific reports and guide decision-makers’ policies across the world.

“The models currently are asking so much more of India and South Africa than they are of Canada and France and that’s a problem”, he said.

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Climate Home News, 15 Feb 2023: Study: IPCC asks emerging countries to drop coal faster than rich nations did