The world can only consume a fraction of the known deposits of fossil fuels if it’s to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change , according to the biggest assessment of the issue. Burning reserves of oil, natural gas and coal already identified by national governments and commodity companies would cause widespread droughts, more-violent storms and melting of polar ice caps, a long-awaited report by a panel of climate scientists gathered by the United Nations said. The finding, encapsulated in a so-called carbon budget for the world, is crucial because it tells governments how much room they have to maneuver in balancing measures to reduce emissions that may be costly to companies and the economy, against the predicted consequences of doing nothing. “At the current rates, the carbon budget will be depleted within just a few decades,” Alden Meyer , director of policy at […]