Michael Meacher MP

The latest IEA estimates that global greenhouse gas emissions reached an all-time record of 30.6 gigatonnes (Ggt) last year, despite most of the Western world still being stuck in near-recession, is alarming but scarcely surprising.   Alarming because if the annual rise in world GG emissions this year is as large as last year (i.e. 1.6 Ggt), which is likely, it will exceed the 32 Ggt ceiling above which scientists believe global warming will become unmanageable and catastrophic.   Hardly surprising given the previous relentless rise in global GG emissions, the international negotiating failures in Copenhagen and Cancun, and the listlessness of anti-climate change warnings across the world’s nations.   But what it really reveals is the sheer overarching power of the economic dynamic that effectively wipes out the message about climate catastrophe. (more…)