Responding to the new study from the University of East Anglia which shows that global carbon emissions have increased in 2017 following three years of nearly zero growth, Christian Aid’s International Climate Lead, Mohamed Adow, said:
“This is scary. The flatlining emissions over the past three years suggested we could start to reduce them. To find out that we’re actually pumping more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than ever is shocking and shows the coming cuts needs to be even steeper and deeper.
“Having achieved the success of a global agreement to tackle climate change in Paris two years ago, these findings show that we need more than warm words in conference halls to tackle a warming world.
“The only way we are going to see these emission numbers go in the right direction is if the politicians spend less time talking about their Paris pledges and more time actually meeting them. They need to change the facts on the ground. Coal needs to be rapidly phased out of the global energy mix, while renewables must be ramped up far quicker.”
“What we need now is for all countries to take seriously their commitments, and ensure their emissions peak as soon as possible and decline thereafter to give us a fighting chance to meet the Paris goals. Otherwise we risk only talking the politics of climate change without delivering the actions needed to realise them.”
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