FOSSIL FUEL DEPLETION AND CO2 EMISSIONS: SOME POSSIBLE FUTURE SCENARIO EMISSIONS

The dependency on fossil fuels has arisen two kinds of worries: firstly, its linked environmental impacts, especially the climate change effects; secondly, the depletion of the finite reserves. Each concern has prevailed in different historical moments. In any case, CO2 emissions and massive use of non renewable and limited resources are both sides of the same coin and should be analyzed together. In the present work several possible XXIst scenarios are developed assuming oil and natural gas are depleted following peak oil theory although considering several hypothesis on recoverable resource size. It is also supposed carbon resources are plentiful enough to keep total energy supply from fossil fuels. CO2 future emissions will rely upon the result arising from forces pushing to an increased coal use as oil and gas are depleted and those stemming from environmental politics and trying to limit its expansion.