Fossil fuel rise drives planet closer to critical climate safety limit

The world is on track to deplete its remaining carbon budget within six years, pushing global temperatures beyond the 1.5C threshold, a major international study has found.

The latest annual update by the Global Carbon Budget, which tracks where carbon emissions end up in the Earth's system, found that time is running out to prevent dangerous temperature rises.

“It’s very likely we will exceed the 1.5C limit if emissions continue at the current rate,” said French climate scientist Philippe Ciais, one of more than 120 scientists who contributed to the report, in an interview with RFI.

Current trajectories show there's a 50 percent chance that 1.5C will be breached by the end of the decade.

Released Wednesday, the study includes emissions from both fossil fuel burning and land-use changes, such as deforestation, which releases carbon stored in forests.

It projects that fossil fuel emissions will reach 37.4 billion tonnes in 2024 – a 0.8 percent increase from 2023.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) last month flagged record greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, warning this will commit the world to rising temperatures for decades to come.

While deforestation-related emissions have declined over the past 20 years, those from fossil fuels continue to rise. Although the rate of increase has slowed since the 2000s, there is still no sign of a sustained decline, Ciais explained.

Read more on RFI English

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