SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The United Nations warns that the planet is on track for dangerous levels of global warming. Here's the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
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ANTONIO GUTERRES: The consequences are already devastating - deadly floods, brutal heat waves.
DETROW: The U.N. warns it will all get worse unless countries change course. NPR's Rebecca Hersher is here to break down the details. Hey, there.
REBECCA HERSHER, BYLINE: Hi.
DETROW: Tell me exactly what the U.N. is saying. Like, just how bad is the prognosis?
HERSHER: It's pretty bad. They're saying that, you know, obviously, we're already seeing the effects of climate change, and it's going to get a lot worse in the next few decades if we stay on this track. So right now, the planet is about 1 1/2 degrees Celsius hotter than it was in the mid-1800s. It doesn't sound like a huge number, but obviously we're all feeling the effects of that warming - right? - those horrific floods in Nepal earlier this year, the huge wildfires across Europe and the U.S. in recent years.
But the U.N. is warning that's just the beginning. So we are on track to almost double that warming in the next 75 years - so within the lifetimes of today's young people. And if that happens, it would lead to massive sea level rise, widespread extinction of plants and animals, and even more deadly weather.
DETROW: Not good. Nothing good...
HERSHER: Not good.
DETROW: ...There.
HERSHER: No.
DETROW: I mean, that being said, has there been any progress anywhere? Because it seems like the solutions here - electric vehicles, solar and wind power - are more popular than ever.
HERSHER: They are, right? We have seen renewable energy grow much faster than expected. Electric vehicles are really popular, especially in places like China and Europe, and that is making a dent in how much oil and gas and coal humans burn, but the dent isn't big enough. That's what this new report finds. So globally, we are still using more fossil fuels each year. Burning fossil fuels is the primary driver of climate change. It produces the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet. And this report finds that emissions from some really big countries are still growing.
DETROW: So what countries stick out?
HERSHER: Well, we have to talk about China. China is the world's largest single emitter of greenhouse gases, so it's a big contributor to warming. But China is also the world leader for building solar and wind and batteries, and the growth of the country's coal industry is actually slowing down. And remember, China has a huge population. So if you look per capita - you know, how much countries are emitting relative to how many people live there - China is not No. 1. The United States and Russia were basically tied last year for the most per capita climate pollution among the top emitters. That's what this report finds, and it really singles the U.S. out because the U.S. is the only country in the G20 where emissions rose significantly last year.
DETROW: Why exactly are climate emissions going up in the U.S.? I know there's probably a lot of reasons.
HERSHER: There are a lot of reasons, yeah. But basically, the U.S. is burning a lot of oil and gas and coal. The U.N. points out that there's been a big increase in electricity demand. The Trump administration is all about fossil fuels. So the administration has reinvested in coal-fired power plants, gotten rid of fuel efficiency standards for vehicles. All of that has increased U.S. emissions.
Now, I should say the U.S. government does not recognize or endorse the findings of this report - that's according to the State Department. That's because the Trump administration is withdrawing from international climate work, including the Paris Climate Agreement. And the U.S. also won't be participating in the upcoming international climate talks. Those are kicking off in Turkey in just a few weeks.
DETROW: NPR's Rebecca Hersher, thank you so much.
HERSHER: Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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