A coal-free future

Coal use should be “largely” reduced by mid-century so that the planet can avoid sea level rise of more than a meter by 2100, as Antarctic ice is melting faster than expected, new simulations led by the Australian team showed.

Sea level rise by the end of the century is projected to exceed 1.3 meters from 1986-2005, or 55 percent more than predicted in the fifth assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, according to a study published in the journal Environmental Journal Letters.

“We have provided a preliminary overview of what will need to be considered and assessed in more detail in the forthcoming 6th IPCC report, due out in 2021,” said lead author Alexander Nauels and a researcher at the Australian university.

“Coal as we know it today (without capturing and storing carbon) should be largely extinct by 2050,” Nahuels said. "Fossil fuels have no future, and coal in particular."