Over 250 scientists from 27 countries, including India, have written to the president of this year’s UN climate conference, urging him to make the transition away from fossil fuels a top priority for COP30.
Climate physicist and signatory Bill Hare handed over the letter in person to COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago during the mid-year climate conference in Bonn, Germany. “We strongly urge you to use your substantial global platform to champion a fast, fair, effective and full phaseout of fossil fuels. The science is clear: the burning of fossil fuels is driving climate change and its disastrous impacts on the lives and livelihoods of people all around the world,” the letter read. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit the rise in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. “Yet, a decade later, we remain well short of our goals. The last 10 years were also the 10 hottest years in history. The world has now exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming in a single year for the first time on record,” they said.
Citing major findings from the past decade of scientific literature, the scientists said that existing fossil fuel infrastructure alone makes the 1.5 degrees Celsius target unattainable.
The signatories, including renowned physicist Paulo Artaxo and Friederike Otto, a professor at Imperial College London, said it will be impossible to avoid severe socioeconomic impacts, which will affect humanity for centuries, without a fast, just and planned transition away from fossil fuels.
