Growing Renewables Use ‘Not Enough’ To Slow Climate Change

A group of leading international scientists have warned that even though the use of renewable energy is growing, this alone won’t be enough to slow global warming.

The Independent reported on the academic paper published in Earth System Dynamics, with former climate science head at NASA Professor Jim Hansen having led the research.

According to the research, the world has already gone beyond acceptable levels for global warming and as a result, “rapid emission reductions” would be required in addition to the continued push for greater renewable energy, to avoid extreme climate change for future generations.

The team of international academics claim that we need to reduce the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 12.5 per cent.

There are several ways of achieving this, including simple and relatively low-cost solutions such as planting more trees and improving soil fertility.

In addition, fitting carbon capture and storage devices to biomass power plants is another solution that would help, while it may also be necessary to develop some kind of device that can directly remove the carbon from the air, they suggested.

In the UK it seems some power generation companies are moving in the right direction. Drax Group’s chief executive Dorothy Thompson recently stated that “delivering reliable renewable electricity remains at the heart of our business”, adding that the firm is also looking at ways to potentially repurpose existing coal assets.

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