Global temperatures to rise faster and higher than UN prediction: IEA

Global warming as a result of greenhouse gas emissions will be almost twice as intense as the United Nations’ 2035 target, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the energy arm of the OECD.

The IEA predicts that greenhouse gas emissions will rise by 20% over the next 22 years, creating temperature increases of 3.6 degrees, well above the UN’s prediction of a 2.0 degree-increase.

The estimates are part of the IEA’s 2013 World Energy Outlook, which calls for an expansion of “carefully designed” alternative energy subsidies to the tune of $220 billion annually by 2035.

Coal use, the worst emitter, is set to rise 17% over the next 22 years, according to the Outlook, and its future depends largely on China, “which burns as much coal every year as the rest of the world combined,” the Bangkok Times reports.

The Outlook also warns that the shale oil revolution will not wean economies off Middle East oil as quickly or thoroughly as many expect, and that the world will turn increasingly to nuclear power as the frequency and intensity of ‘superstorms’ such as Typhoon Haiyan increase.

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