Bleak prospects for climate, warns IEA

“Worst ever carbon emissions leave climate on the brink,” headlines the Guardian, revealing latest estimates from the International Energy Agency (IEA) showing that, “[g]reenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount last year, to the highest carbon output in history.” In 2010, according to the Paris-based intergovernmental organisation, “a record 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere, mainly from burning fossil fuel – a rise of 1.6Gt on 2009.” This “shock rise” puts “hopes of holding global warming to safe levels all but out of reach”, the Guardian notes. One expert at the London School of Economics now anticipates a 50% chance of a rise in global average temperature of more than 4C by 2100. “Such warming would disrupt the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people across the planet, leading to widespread mass migration and conflict. That is a risk any sane person would seek to drastically reduce," he said.