Dear Newsletter Readers,
I hope this week’s newsletter finds you happy and healthy.
If like me, you have been following the COP 26 climate change meeting in Liverpool, England, you will be aware that there are some positives to be taken from it so far, but not perhaps as many as a lot of people were hoping for, certainly not as many as I hoped there would be. The fact that some of the leaders of world powers; for example, China and Russia, did not attend COP 26 personally raised some suspicions and doubts, but judging by the current political climate in the world I guess we can understand why Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin did not attend.
So what pledges to stop the world heating up have been made so far? Well, Brazil and some other countries have pledged to reverse deforestation; however, based on Brazil’s past track record I am not completely convinced of the commitment behind their pledge. Some countries like the UK have pledged to phase out coal power plants and stop building new ones which seems fair considering that as nation the UK has largely contributed (through the industrial revolution) to global warming, whereas countries like China, the US, India and Australia appear to have a very different opinion when it comes to the use of coal, so thus far these countries are not part of the pledge making team. We have to remember that the world is quite dependent on coal; there are lot of people employed within the coal industry and moving over to renewables for some countries, particularly India, will be very difficult and unless they receive technical and financial support from the likes of the UK and other developed nations that have pledged to phase out the use of coal it will be impossible I think.
Importantly, 90 odd countries have pledged to reduce their methane emissions which is not before time as methane emissions are by far more damaging than Co2 emissions in that Methane hangs around in the atmosphere much longer than Co2. The US has pledged to make it obligatory for all US based gas and oil based companies to plug methane leaks in pipelines of which there are 3 million miles worth of them to check through. However, the likes of China, India and Russia have not pledged to reduce their methane emissions which is disappointing, especially in the cases of China and Russia as these countries are far better positioned economically to reduce them when compared to India.
According to data provided by the IEA (International Energy Agency) world’s energy watchdog, it seems that achieving all the net zero pledges made at COP 26 may well limit global warming to 1.8 degrees; however, the special advisor to the UN secretary-general, Mr Selwin Hart begs to differ as he believes the world is on course to warm up by about 2.7 degrees judging by the nationally determined contributions that have been thus far submitted. There is one more day to go before the COP 26 finishes, so there is still time for additional pledges to be made.
Regardless of whether more pledges are made, I think we can look at COP 26 and say that for all the pledges that haven’t been made the ones that have mean that we are actually now on a path to recognizing that we all must pull our horns in and work together for the greater good because if we don’t then we might as well kiss the planet, that we really should be leaving behind in the best possible condition for all the generations that follow on after us, good bye.
Until next week, keep safe and enjoy your weekend ahead.