{"id":267582,"date":"2021-08-08T16:03:56","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T16:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=3dadc5a315a3f5bf5af8606be531bef3"},"modified":"2021-08-08T16:03:56","modified_gmt":"2021-08-08T16:03:56","slug":"when-even-the-conservative-iea-sounds-an-alarm-on-climate-the-world-must-listen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/08\/08\/when-even-the-conservative-iea-sounds-an-alarm-on-climate-the-world-must-listen\/","title":{"rendered":"When Even the Conservative IEA Sounds an Alarm on Climate, the World Must Listen"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Icebergs<\/a>

Like a carousel of bad news coming from all four corners of the globe, the year thus far has borne witness to a litany of extreme weather events and stark research findings with one grim overarching message: The world is still failing miserably to adequately respond to the already devastating impacts of the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

In the Arctic, the rate of sea ice loss is currently tracking<\/a> just below that for 2012 and 2020, the two worst years for ice loss, as per the National Snow and Ice Data Center\u2019s<\/a> records. Indeed, the record melting rate of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets is in line<\/a> with worst-case scenarios as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the climate science<\/a> arm of the United Nations (UN).<\/p>\n

In the Amazon, regarded as the globe\u2019s largest carbon sink<\/a>, the frantic rate of deforestation and wildfire damage has resulted in a terrifyingly paradoxical scenario: Parts of the rainforest now release more carbon than they store, according to a recent study in Nature<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Germany, floods the likes of which experts say have not been witnessed for between 500 to 1,000 years,<\/a> coupled with wildfires across southern Europe fueled by tinder-dry conditions, prompted a top UN climate<\/a> official to exhort major global leaders to do more to cut greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n

The link between<\/a> extreme weather events and impacts from anthropogenic climate change is a through line threading a string of recent weather-related headlines here in the U.S. as well.<\/p>\n

Experts say the June heat wave that gripped the Pacific Northwest \u2014 with a death toll<\/a> nearing the 200 mark \u2014 would have been \u201cvirtually impossible<\/a>\u201d in pre-industrial times. The ongoing mega-drought burning up the western U.S. is behind historic low water levels<\/a> at Lake Mead \u2014 one of the region\u2019s key water resources \u2014 while the broader Colorado River system, which provides water to 40 million people<\/a>, is running so dry that officials are soon expected to declare an unprecedented water shortage<\/a> on the lower portion of the river, triggering water usage cuts. The drought has already prompted tribal communities<\/a> in Colorado to massively scale back their agricultural output.<\/p>\n

On the flip side of the precipitation coin, flood damage caused by unusually punishing rain events is costing the U.S. an additional $2.5 billion annually, according to a recent study<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Amid an onslaught of pre-apocalyptic events, major nations have been eager to tout their green bona fides as they inject vast wallets of stimulus monies to keep their economies oiled through a pandemic. At the same time, however, expert analyses<\/a> of these recovery plans show they\u2019re often weighted heavily in favor of fossil fuel-driven projects.<\/p>\n

More broadly, the International Energy Agency (IEA) \u2014 a policy adviser to its 29 member countries \u2014 warned<\/a> earlier this year how governmental emission reduction pledges fall \u201cwell short\u201d of what is required to bring global energy-related carbon dioxide releases to net zero by 2050 \u2014 a key benchmark in the fight to limit global warming to just 1.5 degrees Celsius (1.5\u00b0C) above pre-industrial levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate is a train wreck happening in slow motion,\u201d says Ted Parson, co-director of the Dan and Rae Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the University of California, Los Angeles, who described the IEA\u2019s warnings as something of a canary in the coal mine.<\/p>\n