Our climate is in crisis yet the world’s thirst for fossil fuels, a prime cause of the predicament, shows no signs of slackening. Experts from the International Energy Agency last week presented a sobering assessment of the state of play. The world’s reliance on fossil fuels, it warned, remains “stubbornly high”. Carbon emissions are set to rise up until 2040, even if governments manage to meet their environmental targets. Its US counterpart, the Energy Information Agency, paints a similar picture. Global natural gas consumption, it predicts, will jump 40 per cent by 2050.
我們的氣候正處于危機之中，但全球對化石燃料的需求卻絲毫沒有減弱的跡象，而這種需求正是造成氣候困境的主要原因。國際能源署(International Energy Agency)的專家上周對氣候現狀做出了讓人警醒的評估。它警告說，全球對化石燃料的依賴仍然“居高不下”。一直到2040年碳排放量都將持續增長，哪怕各國政府設法達到其環境目標。美國能源信息署(EIA)也勾勒出同樣的前景。它預計到2050年，全球天然氣消費量將比現在暴漲40%。