Environmental study says rich countries must stop oil, gas production by 2034
A study finds that rich countries must stop all oil and gas production by 2034 to give the world a 50% chance of preventing a harsh climate breakdown.
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While there has to be a rapid shift away from a "fossil fuel economy," this has to be done in a fair and equitable way
A study reports that in order to transition away from fossil fuels in a fair manner, rich countries must end their production of oil and gas within the next 12 years, and poor nations must be given 28 years.
The research, which was led by Professor Kevin Anderson from the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research at Manchester University, found that rich countries like the UK, US, and Australia had to stop their oil and gas production completely by 2034 in order to give the world a 50% chance to prevent a harmful climate breakdown.
The poorest nations of the world would be given until 2050 because of their heavy reliance on fossil fuels to give them time to shift away from this kind of production.
Although it was clear in the study that a rapid shift away from fossil fuel economy was necessary, it was essential that this shift take place in a fair and equitable way.
In order to arrive at this conclusion, the report looked at each country's wealth and its dependence on the production of fossil fuels. However, Anderson warned that many rich countries don't take equity seriously.
Even if they do manage to phase out oil and gas production by 2050, poorer countries would still need financial support to make the transition to avoid economic and political troubles.
