Senior UN Diplomat: Leave Fossil Fuels in the Ground

“Fossil fuels must be left in the ground” to stop runaway emissions, one of the world’s senior diplomats said on Monday, reiterating a message widely-advocated by environmental groups.

The urging was given by Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Irish president, and current member of The Elders and Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General to the Great Lakes Region.

“There is a global limit on a safe level of emissions. That means major fossil fuel reserves must be left in the ground. That has huge implications for economic and social development,” Robinson told the Guardian on Monday.

Robinson also told the paper that climate skeptics are “not based in reality,” and warned that the proposal would like face blocks by the fossil fuel industry, saying that “there is obviously a business community that is trying to cloud and distort the science.”