IN my column on Thursday ('Emissions to peak in 2028, but...' Nov. 14), I highlighted BMI Research's recent forecast that global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will peak in 2028 and then presumably decline thereafter. On the face of things, that is good news since the world needs to reach a point of equilibrium — 'net zero,' where GHG emissions do not exceed the planet's ability to remove them from the atmosphere — in order to stop the constant increase in global average temperatures.

To summarize, I think the forecast of peak emissions by 2028 is based on several assumptions that are not obviously suggested by current trends and, thus, are highly improbable. Net zero, given the vast gap between GHG emissions and the planet's absorptive capacity, is not even remotely possible on any timescale that makes sense. But achieving net zero was not really the focus of BMI Research's forecast, so we will disregard that.