From the July 7-10 conference held in Paris
Professor Anderson, Professor of Energy and Climate Change at the University of Manchester, UK, says that we need to immediately begin a drastic scale down of carbon emissions to prevent a collapse of the climate system. The Copenhagen Accord of 2010 stated that the increase in global temperature needs to be held below 2 degrees Celsius in order to avoid dangerous climate change. Anderson says that by postponing carbon reduction we are already on our way to a 4 degree Celsius warming.
In advanced economies, a reduction of emissions of between 80-95% from the 1990 baseline is needed, according to a Tyndall Centre working paper. And as much as half of the world’s proven reserves of all fossil fuels will need to be left in the ground if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
Among the 2000 delegates who came to Paris in July 2015 to discuss the physical, economic and social aspects of climate change was Kevin Anderson. He is professor of energy and climate change at the University of Manchester, UK.
This meeting was held in preparation for the COP meeting, also in Paris in December 2015, at which, finally, a global binding agreement on emissions needs to be signed and implemented.
Kevin Anderson’s talk in Paris received a lot of attention. However the organizers did not include it among the posts on their web-site. Anderson’s voice is crucial for his expertise and his courage to express unpopular opinions. This is an in depth interview by Mike Coe, UK, produced in January 2015.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)
