Gap vs GOP

The Emissions Gap Report 2014 from the United Nations Environment Programme sets a deadline of 2070 for net carbon dioxide emissions to reach zero and stay within the 2 degree Celsius limit on atmospheric warming.

Since 1990, global emissions have grown by more than 45 per cent and were approximately 54 Gt CO2e in 2012. Looking to the future, scientists have produced business-as-usual scenarios as benchmarks to see what emission levels would be like in the absence of additional climate policies, also assuming country pledges would not be implemented. Under these scenarios, global greenhouse gas emissions would rise to about 59 Gt CO2e in 2020, 68 Gt CO2e in 2030 and 87 Gt CO2e in 2050. It is clear that global emissions are not expected to peak unless additional emission reduction policies are introduced.

But, as Michael Klare points out, the new Congress isn't likely to pass any emission reduction policies.

With Republicans now in control, pro-carbon initiatives will be the order of the day in Congress. [F]or each modest step forward on climate stabilization, the latest election ensures that Americans are destined to march several steps backward when it comes to reliance on climate-altering fossil fuels. It’s a recipe for good times for Big Energy and its congressional supporters and bad times for the rest of us.