Grist reports:

Exxon Mobil projected that greenhouse-gas emissions and the efforts to keep the planet’s temperature from rising beyond an increase of 2 degrees Celsius by 2050 is destined to fail in a report released by the oil giant on Monday.

Oil and natural gas are projected to meet more than half of the world’s energy needs in 2050, or 54 percent, because of their “utility as a reliable and lower-emissions source of fuel for electricity generation, hydrogen production, and heating,” according to the Houston-based company.

The report stated carbon emissions stemming from burning fossil fuels and energy consumption will drop to 25 billion metric tons in 2050, due to the rise of renewable energy sources, decline of coal, and improvements in energy efficiency. This is expected to bring down energy consumption by 26 percent from a peak of 34 billion metric tons projected sometime in the current decade. But despite that decline in emissions, the worldwide carbon output is predicted to rise well above the levels the United Nations’ climate-science advisory body says would limit the effects of climate change.

According to Exxon’s researchers, the world will see a 25 percent increase in population that will drive an economy twice the size of today’s. That level of growth is practically unprecedented: The report points out that it took thousands of years for the world to reach its first 2 billion people, which happened around 1930. Now the planet, already home to 8 billion people, is projected to add 2 billion more over the next 27 years.

“Fossil fuels remain the most effective way to produce the massive amounts of energy needed to create and support the manufacturing, commercial transportation, and industrial sectors that drive modern economies,” the report said. ExxonMobil is investing more money to increase oil and gas production than any other company in the U.S., according to its website. [Continue reading…]