Global carbon emissions set record high, but US coal use drops to levels last seen in 1903
Coal plant closures, fuel-switching and renewables in the US led to an 18.3% decline in coal use, bringing it down to its 1903 level. The EU saw a drop of similar magnitude.
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In fact, the amount of coal used each day in the U.S. has fallen from about 2.8 million tons a day in 2008 to roughly 1.1 million tons a day this year—a 62% drop. It can take a long time to bring such large stockpiles down to levels power producers are more comfortable with—historically around 50 to 60 days' supply.Nov 2, 2023
The impacts of change are evident all around us, but action to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels remains painfully slow
IEA, Global CO2 emissions by sector, 2019-2022, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/global-co2-emissions-by-sector-2019-2022, IEA. Licence: CC BY 4.0 dk images library
It's been another record-breaking year for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels, European researchers reported in a new study released early Tuesday in Dubai.
While fossil emissions have decreased in the U.S. and in Europe during 2023, they have risen overall worldwide – and scientists say global action to cut these fuels is not happening fast enough to prevent dangerous climate change. www.usatoday.com/...
In addition, researchers said that at the current emissions level, there's a 50% chance that global warming will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) consistently in about seven years. “It now looks inevitable we will overshoot the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement, and leaders meeting at COP28 will have to agree rapid cuts in fossil fuel emissions even to keep the 2°C target alive,” Friedlingstein added.
The Global Carbon Budget report, produced by an international team of more than 120 scientists, provides an annual, peer-reviewed update on the status of CO2 emissions. The 2023 edition (the 18th annual report) was published in the journal Earth System Science Data
Apr 3, 2023 — The report, issued Monday, found that 173 coal plants are set to close by 2030 — 54 percent of the current fleet — and another 54 by 2040
Does the way we talk about the climate crisis numb people with fear, rather than energising them?
environmentalists typically hold universalist values, whereas most supporters of climate obstruction, denial or delay have value sets favouring individual safety, security and simplicity. Rose supports the idea of more research into climate comms – but he’s wary about parachuting into the arena a charismatic, well-connected individual like Piccard who specialises in clean tech. “You wouldn’t want it to be another distraction or cause for delay,” he says. “You must remember that ideas need to be tested before they are tried.”
That’s exactly what John Marshall, from the nonprofit Potential Energy Coalition of media agencies, has done – spending four years researching and testing climate messaging. He suggests abandoning technocratic language and scrapping abstract terms like anthropogenic and decarbonisation. Instead, he says, communicators should “talk like humans”, engaging people with their own experiences of extreme heat, wildfires and floods.
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Roger Harrabin is a fellow at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and a former BBC correspondent
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