sierraclub.org - sierra magazine - may/june 2013 - top 10 least wanted fossil fuel projects
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Top 10 least wanted fossil fuel projects
Illustration by Peter and Maria Hoey
What humans do in the next seven years could determine whether the planet will warm moderately or catastrophically. If we sharply curtail the burning of fossil fuels worldwide, we have a chance of limiting warming to 3.5°F. But that's a big "if." Point of No Return, a new report for Greenpeace by the consulting group Ecofys, highlights 14 huge coal, oil, and natural gas projects that, collectively, could push us over the edge to warming of 10°F or more this century. Most of the projects are beyond America's ability to alter—oil drilling in Kazakhstan, for example. But others—like whether we're going to ship federally subsidized coal to Asia from ports in the Pacific Northwest—are squarely up to us.Here are the top 10 "least wanted" fossil fuel projects. Figures are for the amount of CO2 equivalent the project would produce by 2020. —Paul Rauber
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