A recently released Greenpeace report warns that if 14 planned large-scale fossil fuel projects from around the world are allowed to proceed, they will produce a ‘carbon bomb’ of 6.3 gigatonnes of C02 a year by 2020. The "Point of No Return" report focuses on different coal, oil and gas projects that are being planned or in the process of being approved. Together they would increase global emissions by 20 per cent.
The biggest jump is expected from coal production in China’s five northwestern provinces. These projects will increase coal production by 620 million tonnes by 2015, adding 1,400 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere a year. Other large projects include potential oil drilling in the Arctic, expanded shale gas production in the United States and increased coal exports from Australia, among others.
“These governments claim they want to prevent catastrophic climate change, but shamefully continue to approve and promote major fossil fuel projects,” said Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace.
If the 14 projects are cancelled, the chances of keeping global temperatures from rising more than two degrees are greater than 75 per cent, according to the report. The calculations, however, do not account for emissions offset by some of these 14 projects. In the U.S., for example, shale gas has displaced many older coal units, resulting in a net reduction of C02.
