On Wednesday, a group of prominent climate scientists, politicians, and corporate leaders released a statement in the journal Nature warning that we only have three years to stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere before certain negative impacts of climate change become irreversible. In fact, by the year 2020, the statement says, global greenhouse gas emissions must actually start to curve downwards, or else it will likely become impossible to limit the harmful impacts of climate change.
Led by U.N. diplomat Christiana Figueres and co-signed by climate scientist Michael Mann and California Governor Jerry Brown, among others, the group said these findings have “more to do with physics than politics.” At maximum, humans can only emit 600 billion more tons of carbon dioxide if we want to achieve the goals of the Paris climate agreement, which sought to keep global temperatures from rising 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius. Right now, humans emit about 41 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year, which means we’ll use up that allowance within 15 years. Therefore, we need to start slowly reducing emissions right now; or, at the very latest, by the year 2020.
Theoretically, Donald Trump will still by president by the year 2020. And considering he’s the leader of the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, it’s safe to say he’ll play a key role in determining whether global emissions slow down enough by that time. Indeed, in comments described by the Washington Post, Figueres acknowledged the group’s statement “was directly aimed at influencing the upcoming G-20 meetings in Germany,” where countries are expected to pressure Trump over his recent decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris accord. Clearly, the authors know U.S. action is key to achieving the 2020 goal.
But there are no current actions being taken by the Trump administration to reduce U.S. carbon emissions. Quite the opposite. Trump has dubbed this week “energy week,” touting all the actions he’s taken that increase emissions: attempting to revitalize the coal industry, signing an executive order to drill for oil in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, and boosting exports of oil and natural gas. “Together, we are going to start a new energy revolution—one that celebrates American production on American soil,” Trump said.
Figueres’s group of optimists is calling for a different kind of revolution: “a six-point plan for turning the tide of the world’s carbon dioxide.” The clock is ticking.