IEA warns global warming will intensify

Temperatures could rise to nearly twice the UN targets. The International Energy Agency warns this could come about despite campaigns promoting energy efficiency and international pledges to limit global warming. It said greenhouse gas emissions (GhG) will rise by 20% by 2035, leading to a world temperature increase of 3.6 degrees, well above the United Nations target of 2.0 degrees. IEA said the global energy sector is responsible for two-thirds of global GhG and whatever trends surface in the coming years will be key to determining if climate change commitments are met. IEA has said the world temperature would jump by six degrees if all efforts to limit human-based emissions were abandoned. It has, however, praised recent initiatives in many of the world’s largest economies to limit carbon emissions. But despite best efforts, climate-changing energy consumption is still on a sharp rise. IEA forecast that global demand for oil could hit 101 million barrels per day, a rise of 14 mbd in less than a quarter of a century. This total is the equivalent to about 16.1 billion liters of oil being burned every 24 hours. Coal use will rise by 17% from today until 2035, primarily because coal remains far cheaper than cleaner natural gas. Any prospect of reversing the continuing increase in the use of coal depends mostly on China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, which burns as much coal every year as the rest of the world combined.