Global fossil fuel consumption is increasing, not decreasing, and this growth can only continue
By Vaclav Smil and Elmira Aliakbari, National Post, May 29, 2024
Canada and other developed countries have committed to achieving “net-zero” carbon emissions by 2050. Yet here at the midway point between the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the first international treaty to set binding targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and the looming deadline of 2050, there is good reason to doubt the feasibility of this ambitious transition.
Our new study for the Fraser Institute demonstrates how the world’s dependence on fossil fuels has in fact steadily and significantly increased over the past three decades — this despite international agreements, significant government spending and regulation and some technological progress pushing in the opposite direction.… Read more