Petition Leave some in the ground: underground national parks for fossil fuel reserves

Researchers at the Potsdam Institute in Germany estimate that, to keep the chances of exceeding two degrees to 20% or less, between 2000 and 2050 the world can afford to release no more than 886 billion tonnes of CO2. As we have released 321 billion tonnes since, that leaves only 565 billion for the next 40 years.

But current reserves contain roughly twice as much carbon as we can afford to burn in the millennium.

Carbon capture from fossil fuel burning has not been deployed commercially and probably never will be. The world must therefore leave half those fossil fuels where they can do no harm - in the ground.

The UK should begin by identifying those 25% of reserves on UK territory that are least accessible, highest in carbon, and where extraction would be most damaging to ecosystems above. These should be designated national parks, protected from exploitation, at least until such time as carbon capture is economically competitive.