Interview: An Influential Voice Warns of Runaway Emissions

Fatih Birol is a man watching a clock — the clock that ticks off the years in which little is done to slow emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases. As chief economist of the authoritative International Energy Agency, Birol has a bully pulpit, and he has used it to consistently warn that time is running out if the global community hopes to avert potentially catastrophic climate change. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Birol discusses why the emissions situation is getting worse, why an overreliance on abundant natural gas reserves is a dangerous strategy, and why the global community has to take action in the next several years if it hopes to avert temperature increases that soar way past the 2 degrees C increase that climate scientists say is a prudent upper limit. “Individual efforts of countries or sectors will not bring us to 2 degrees,” said Birol. “And if the trends continue like this, we can very soon kiss goodbye to a 2-degree trajectory.”
Read the interview