Gloomy Energy Report Sets the Stage for Climate Talks

In a story for the New York Times, Jad Mouawad outlines recent findings by the International Energy Agency.

• Cenergy policies are not sustainable, and a vast transformation of energy use will be required to fend off the worst consequences of global warming.
• Without a new global agreement, carbon emissions will rise by 40 percent by 2030.
• Government officials from about 190 nations will meet next month in Copenhagen to try to hammer out an international deal to replace the agreement known as the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012.

An excerpt from the New York Times is below. To read the full article, please CLICK HERE.

Gloomy Energy Report Sets the Stage for Climate Talks
By Jad Mouawad
The New York Times

As the world heads for tough negotiations over a global climate deal next month, an influential forecasting agency said on Tuesday that current energy policies were not sustainable, and that a vast transformation of energy use was required to fend off the worst consequences of global warming.

In the absence of a global deal to limit the emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for climate change, energy consumption will soar over the next decades. This would result in a catastrophic rise in global temperatures, according to the International Energy Agency, an adviser to industrialized nations that is based in Paris.

“Continuing on today’s energy path, without any change in government policy, would mean rapidly increasing dependence on fossil fuels, with alarming consequences for climate change and energy security,” the agency said.

Read the rest of the article at the New York Times

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