Fossil fuels causing cost-of-living crisis
The cost-of-living crisis pushing millions of people towards poverty in Europe is driven by fossil fuels, according to a leading Earth systems scientist, who has warned that global heating risks causing runaway climate change. European energy prices soared to new records last week ahead of what many analysts expect to be a challenging winter as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to disrupt oil and gas supplies. The year-ahead contract for German electricity reached 995 euros ($995) per megawatt hour, while the French equivalent surged past 1,100 euros - a more than tenfold increase in both countries from last year. Rockstrom, who helped pioneer the concept of planetary boundaries - thresholds of pollution or warming within which humanity can thrive -- said he hoped the current energy price crisis would be "communicated as another nail in the coffin" for oil, gas and coal.