Report offers fix, including halting fuel subsidies

This article was written by Seth Borenstein and was published in the Toronto Star on September 9, 2023.

With the world far off track on its 2015 pledge to curb global warming, a new United Nations report central to upcoming climate negotiations details how quickly and deeply energy and financial systems must change to get back on a safer path.

“The window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all is rapidly closing,” Friday’s report warned.

The globe has to cut its emissions of heat-trapping gases by 43 per cent by 2030, compared to 2019 levels, and 60 per cent by 2035, the report said. To get there, the report said, “the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels is required,” using a phrase international climate negotiators have shied away from before. It also said phasing out the internal combustion engine would be a huge help.

And the way money flows — such as investments, subsidies, loans, grants and payments for people and places hurt by warming’s extreme weather — also has to change, the report recommended. It said countries need to stop $450 billion in annual subsidies for coal, oil and natural gas.

“Halting and reversing deforestation” and adopting better crop-growing practices are critical to fighting climate change, the report said. It noted that about 95 per cent of deforestation is in the tropics, but global consumers drive the tree loss.

“We must urgently disrupt business as usual and unite like never before to move from ambition to action and from rhetoric to real results,” upcoming international climate negotiations president Sultan Al Jaber said in a statement.

The report put such an emphasis on change that it used variations of the word “transform” more than 50 times in 47 pages.

The report “feels like a final warning,” said Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare. “‘If you guys don’t get your act together, we’re going to cook.’ ”