Bill McKibben på Paris Divestment Conference
9. september 2015
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Bill McKibben keynote speech ved Paris Divestment Conference 01.09.2015.
(under udarbejdelse) European Greens og 350.org afholdt 1. september i fællesskab en konference om divestment, hvor Bill McKibben, grundlæggeren af 350.org, gav den indledende tale. Her kommer mere introduktion en af dagene, men i første omgang er der mulighed for at se hans 40 min. indlæg. nederst er der links til konferencens øvrige indslag og paneldiskussioner.
Teksten herunder stammer fra konferencefolderens introduktion:
The case of the carbon bubble and divesting from fossil fuels
The world is agreed: the temperature of the atmosphere must not rise by more than 2°C. At the 2010 UN Climate Conference in Cancún, Mexico, representatives of 194 states committed themselves to this target. Even the USA and China, who never signed the Kyoto Protocol, supported the decision, as do all other major greenhouse gas emitters. The 2°C target refers to the rise in temperature relative to pre-industrial levels. How this can best be achieved is the subject of much controversy. However, there is a large measure of consensus that it must be achieved in order to limit the impact of climate change to a level which humanity can bear.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), where hundreds of international scientists analyse climate change and propose countermeasures, have on a number of occasions stressed the urgency of consistent measures if we are to keep the Earth on track towards the 2°C target.
How much CO2 emissions have to be cut and what does it mean for current fossil fuel reserves?
But what does the 2°C target mean in concrete terms? How much CO2 can humanity emit into the atmosphere without jeopardising getting there? A joint study by the Carbon Tracker Initiative and the London School of Economics has produced a detailed answer: Between now and 2050, only 900 gigatons of CO2 can be emitted if the 2°C target is to be attained with a probability of 80%. In the second half of the century, only a further 75 gigatons can be emitted. If more CO2 is emitted, the probability of remaining within the 2°C limit falls rapidly. With 1,075 gigatons by 2050, the probability is only 50%.
