Scientists in Europe have said that the only way to limit the effect of climate change is to bring down the carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels to zero.

They also said that there are other greenhouse gases and atmospheric pollutants that cause global warming must also be reduced to limit global warming. They said that reducing methane emissions from cattle, or black carbon from diesel engines, coal mines and coal-burning cooking stoves, or other pollutants will not make a big difference in the long term because they live in the atmosphere from days to a decade. They pointed out that CO2 stays in the atmosphere forthousands of years and it CO2 emissions were reduced, some of the short lived pollutants will also be reduced along with it.

JoeriRogelj, who works at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria and other climate impact scientists report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that limiting short-lived climate forcers will be beneficial to public health but will have a small impact on climate change when compared to reducing CO2 emissions.

Rogelj said, "Stabilising climate at any temperature means that, at some point, global CO2 emissions have to become zero. Although near-term action on short-lived climate forcers can help reduce warming in the coming decades, and also provides other societal benefits, such as clearer air, it will not buy us time for delaying the reductions in carbon dioxide emissions that are required to stabilise the climate at safe levels."

Several other researches on climate change have shown similar conclusion.