Fossil fuel industry must 'implode' to avoid climate disaster, says top scientist

'The age of carbon is over' and a transition to a greener economy is inevitable, says Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, adviser to the German government and Pope Francis

An "induced implosion" of the fossil fuel industry must take place for there to be any chance of avoiding dangerous global warming, according to one of the world's most influential climate scientists.

Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, an adviser to the German government and Pope Francis, said on Friday: "In the end it is a moral decision. Do you want to be part of the generation that screwed up the planet for the next 1,000 years? I don't think we should make that decision."