[INDEPENDENT.CO.UK] Vast underground reserves of oil, gas and coal should be classified as off limits if the world stands any chance of averting dangerous climate change, a major study of global fossil-fuel deposits has found.Scientists calculated that a third of global oil reserves, half of gas reserves and more than 80 per cent of coal reserves should remain in the ground as "unburnable" to avoid exceeding the 2C "safe" threshold for global warming.
The scale of the problem facing the climate negotiations in Paris later this year is writ large in the study by Christophe McGlade and Paul Ekins of University College London who have identified the critical fossils fuels and their locations that need to remain untouched and unexploited.
China, Russia and the United States will have to leave their huge deposits of coal -- the dirtiest of the three main fossil fuels -- underground, while the Middle East will need to agree to keep much of its wealth-creating oil and gas reserves where they are.
| The scientists, however, will continue to burn lights and use their computers... |