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'Carbon budget' is the notion that there’s a limit to the carbon dioxide we can put in the atmosphere without pushing the climate over the edge. According to the recent reports of the IPCC, the intergovernmental panel on climate change, if we go on burning fossil fuels at the current rate that carbon budget will be used up in around 10 years’ time.

Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency said no new oil, gas or coal operations should be approved from now on. A study just published in Nature underlines that, saying three per cent cuts every year should start now if we are to avoid more than 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming. And that a large portion of the reserves we know about should be left untouched.

University College London’s Dan Welsby, who worked on the analysis, explains how these targets should be met.

(Image: Miners cutting coal at coal seem in deep mine, Credit: Monty Rakusen/Getty Images.)