Tag: Greta Thunberg

Toothless

              COP28 by USAID via Flickr CC

So they decided it’s time to “transition away” from fossil fuels? It took 28 meetings for this realization?

At the end of the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), European Union and world leaders “recommitted” to delivering the Paris Agreement goals and limiting the global average temperature increase to 1.5 Celsius. They agreed to “accelerate” emission reductions towards net zero by 2050, with urgent action in this critical decade. This includes transitioning away from fossil fuels and reducing global emissions by 43% by 2030.

Some commitments and actions announced by the EU at COP28:

  • A Global Pledge on Renewables and Energy Efficiency to triple renewable energy capacity and double the rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030. €2.3 billion from the EU budget will support the energy transition in the European neighborhood and around the globe
  • €175 million of financial support from the EU and its Member States to reduce methane emissions
  • More than €400 million in funding from the EU and its Member States to activate a new loss and damage fund for climate emergencies
  • The first two European clean tech projects to be supported by the EU-Catalyst partnership to help the EU reach its 2030 climate targets
  • A €20 billion Team Europe contribution to the Africa-EU Green Energy Initiative
  • a new Team Europe initiative focused on deforestation-free value chains

It sounds good, but…

Critics, notably activist Greta Thunberg say the deal will not prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, which scientists say will trigger catastrophic and irreversible impacts, from melting ice sheets to the collapse of ocean currents.

“This text is toothless and it is nowhere even close to being sufficient to keep us within the 1.5-degree limit,” Thunberg, 20, told Reuters outside Sweden’s parliament, where she and a handful of other protesters were calling for climate justice.

“It is a stab in the back for those most vulnerable. As long as we don’t treat the climate crisis as a crisis and as long as we keep lobby interests influencing these texts and these processes, we are not going to get anywhere,” she said.

The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is a yearly international summit where world leaders, environmental experts, activists, and stakeholders gather to discuss and negotiate actions to combat climate change.

For more information

EU at COP28 Climate Change Conference

Climate action and the Green Deal

Press release: Global Pledge on Renewables and Energy Efficiency

Press release: EU negotiators secure agreement at COP28 to accelerate the global transition away from fossil fuels and triple renewables and double energy efficiency this decadeStatement of President von der Leyen on the outcome of COP28

Copping out on COP

Climate Alliance photo via Flickr CC

Net zero? When it comes to net zero carbonization that sounds like a game that countries and companies play, much like getting to zero fuel emissions for some auto fleets, but not for others. It’s all about the math and playing with the numbers in a time-honored way to game the system and look good.

That really won’t cut it when it comes to the climate crisis because the corporations with the most to lose – and who are the most responsible for the crisis in the first place – don’t really want to hurt themselves too much while talking the net zero game.

From Triplepundit: “At COP27, companies, NGOs and governments are discussing what it takes to create a just transition, as in a climate action plan that is socially equitable.”

Hmm, that sounds like gobbledygook, or as Greta Thunberg might say (quoted in the Nov. 28 New Yorker article written by Elizabeth Kolbert: “blah blah blah…”

Can technological advances get us to net zero emissions? Maybe, but again, blah blah blah!

Here is part of Thunberg’s quote from the Youth4Climate conference in September:

“This is all we hear from our so-called leaders: words—words that sound great, but so far have led to no action. Of course, we need constructive dialogue, but they’ve now had thirty years of blah, blah, blah, and where has that led us?”

Governments and corporations need to develop and deploy climate technologies critical for the world’s net-zero agenda.

Now.