Ukraine-Russia war: Vladimir Putin's evil actions puts world closer to dangerous climate change – Scotsman comment

According to the international Energy Transitions Commission, a think tank whose membership includes representatives from BP, the UK National Grid and Bank of America, the world will fail to stop global warming from going above 1.5 degrees Celsius unless humanity starts to remove carbon from the atmosphere on a massive scale.

Humanity may need to start removing carbon from the atmosphere if it is to avoid dangerous climate change (Picture: Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

The idea that we must now engage in what’s known as geo-engineering to avoid particularly dangerous climate change – shared by many experts, given our lack of progress on cutting emissions – has more than a touch of ‘panic stations’ about it.

To be clear, what the commission is saying is that it is no longer enough to simply reduce carbon emissions and that we must suck it out the atmosphere by any means possible: from planting trees – while hoping they will not be blown or burned down by storms or wildfires decades into the future – to artificial means like carbon-capture-and-storage.

The costs will be huge: the commission suggests about $200 billion will need to be spent each year by 2030, which is something to think about when spending money on the fossil fuels that are adding to the problem. The more carbon we send into the atmosphere, the higher the cost will be to remove it.

It’s also something to think about amid calls for countries to boost oil and gas production in order to cut off supplies from Russia while the warmongering Vladimir Putin continues to slaughter innocent people in Ukraine.

He will not care, but Putin’s evil legacy could include putting the world on course to find out just how dangerous climate change can be.

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