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The entire world will have to end fossil fuel use by 2050 to stop climate change, a UN report states. Moreover, the world will need to reduce fossil fuel use by 45% as soon as 2030 to meet the UN’s climate change goals.
To explain, the level of carbon pollution from fossil fuel use needs to be 0% by 2050 to keep worldwide temperatures from rising by two degrees Celsius. That is the conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), The Guardian reports.
Consequently, governments will have to ban all fossil fuel use to achieve that goal. To elaborate, the only way to reduce carbon pollution to 0% is to end fossil fuel use completely.
The UN Wants To End Fossil Fuel Use By 2050
The 0% figure comes from the IPCC’s Global Warming of 1.5 Celsius report. The October report is the official opinion of the UN’s climate scientists.
Significantly, the report and the news articles regarding it do not mention an end to fossil fuel use. Instead, media accounts merely mention “reducing carbon pollution.”
The IPCC scientists fear that climate change will be irreversible if global temperatures increase by 1.5 degrees Celsius. For instance, the scientists are afraid of negative effects like droughts, the extinction of insects, and massive movements of refugees.
Scientists Want To End Fossil Fuel Use Completely
“By mid-century, a shift to the lower goal would require a supercharged roll-back of emissions sources that have built up over the past 250 years,” Guardian editor Jonathan Watts writes.
Under those circumstances, governments will seek to ban all gasoline and diesel-burning vehicles and aircraft. In addition, utilities will have to scrap all coal, oil, and natural-gas-burning power plants.
Notably, neither Watts nor the IPCC states how the world will achieve these goals.
An End To Fossil Fuel Use Will Cost As Much As World War II
Furthermore, The Guardian admits that an end to fossil fuel use will be expensive.
Specifically, The Guardian asserts that the world needs a “World War II-style effort” to end fossil fuel use. In particular, the American war effort alone in World War II cost $4 trillion in modern money.
The World War II war effort also consumed 40% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) by 1945. The GDP consists of the total sum of all the goods, services, and products sold in a nation.
Ultimately, an end to fossil fuel use will eat up as much as half of America’s GDP. As a result, the effort to end fossil fuel use would currently cost $7.756 trillion a year under The Guardian’s criteria. This figure of $7.756 trillion is approximately 40% of the 2018 U.S. GDP of $19.30 trillion.
Foreign Countries Pledge To End Fossil Fuel Use, Will America Be Next?
Efforts to end fossil fuel use are already occurring around the world. Particularly, 14 countries have announced plans to ban gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles.
Notably, China, Taiwan, France, and the United Kingdom plan to ban the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2040. In fact, India, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Israel plan to ban fossil fuel-burning vehicles by 2030, The Center for Climate Protection reports.
One country, Austria, plans to end the sale of fossil fuel-powered vehicles in 2020. Additionally, Costa Rica wants to begin a “complete phase out” of internal combustion vehicles during 2021.
California Wants To End Fossil Fuel Use
Importantly, there are American politicians that want to join all of these efforts. For instance, California State Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) introduced Assembly Bill 1745 or The Clean Cars 2040 Act.
If it becomes law, Assembly Bill 1745 will ban the registration of internal combustion engine vehicles in California in 2040. Because of this, it is apparent that efforts to ban fossil fuel-burning vehicles in America have already begun.
You need to pay special attention to UN climate change efforts because plans to end fossil fuel use have now commenced. Moreover, many politicians want to end fossil use even though it will inevitably lead to economic chaos.
Smart people will prepare for efforts to end fossil fuel use by adopting alternative energy sources such as solar electricity. You could even charge an electric pickup truck with a solar power system.
You may also enjoy reading an additional Off The Grid News article: Even Bill Gates Thinks That We Can Burn Fossil Fuels And Still Limit Climate Change
