Scientists think we could hit a critical climate threshold in the next 10 years

OXFORD, England (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The planet could pass a key target on world temperature rise in about a decade, prompting accelerating loss of glaciers, steep declines in water availability, worsening land conflicts and deepening poverty, scientists said this week.

Last December, 195 nations agreed to try to hold world temperature rise to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius, with an aim of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

But the planet is already two-thirds of the way to that lower and safer goal, and could begin to pass it in about a decade, according to Richard Betts, head of climate impacts research at the UK Met Office's Hadley Centre.

With world emissions unlikely to slow quickly enough to hit that target, it will probably be necessary to remove some carbon pollution from the atmosphere to stabilize the planet, scientists said at a University of Oxford conference on how to achieve the 1.5 degree goal.

Read the Business Insider story - “Scientists think we could hit a critical climate threshold in the next 10 years.”

Climate Council tells of the terrors of Galilee Basin coal

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 new report from the Climate Council reveals that if all of the Galilee Basin coal was burned, an estimated 705 million tonnes of CO2 would be released each year – more than 1.3 times Australia's current annual emissions.

The Climate
Council report.

Tackling climate change effectively means that existing coal mines will need to be retired before they are exploited fully and new mines cannot be built.

Key findings in the report are:

-      Burning coal for electricity is one of the key drivers of climate change.

-      195 countries have agreed to limit temperature rise to no more than 2°C.

-      This puts a cap on how much coal the world can burn. Even under the most optimistic assumptions, only 12% of the world’s coal reserves can be burned.

-      Moving away from fossil fuels means that new energy sources, like solar and wind, must come online rapidly.

-      Any new coal mine is fundamentally at odds with protecting Australia from the impacts of climate change.

Read the report - “Galilee Basin - Unburnable Coal”