UN report says world is racing to well past warming limit as carbon emissions rise instead of plunge

boem@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 586 points –
UN report says world is racing to well past warming limit as carbon emissions rise instead of plunge
english.elpais.com

On Friday, the globe hit 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees) above pre-industrial levels for the first time in recorded history

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The fact is that this was a conscious choice, even recently. The switch to natural gas that everyone is touting is one that is designed to cause higher short-term emissions.

Methane is really bad over a 20-year time frame and only really lets natural gas equal coal over a 100-year period (assuming typical fugitive emissions rates). The transition from coal to natural gas is accelerating the rate at which we boil ourselves alive.

Methane is burned at the point of use and produces carbon dioxide. Ideally there is no methane released in to the environment.

Methane leaks

Something like 3-10% of all methane production leaks. Methane is about 80x worse than CO2 over a 20-year period.

Oh it does for sure. At least in Canada there are government regulations requiring inspections by 3rd parties to check for leaks with some sort of thermal camera. I'm not familiar with the technology to check for leaks but I've had to fix the leaks before and it's taken seriously and well documented.