By Hildur Palsdottir
At the 27th Conference of the Parties now taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, world leaders, policymakers, industry leaders, activists and stakeholders from nearly 200 countries have the opportunity to shape energy policies to properly respond to the climate crisis.
Setting a serious tone for this year’s meeting, the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned: “We are in the fight of our lives and we are losing.” He added: “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.” While lofty pledges have historically been made at these gatherings, little actual effort has resulted in practical emission cuts. This year the COP stressed implementation over negotiation.
Ushering in a new era of radical transparency, former Vice President Al Gore presented data from the non-profit Climate TRACE. Climate TRACE offers satellite and remote sensor AI based recordings of emissions from over 70,000 Polluters (https://climatetrace.org/). It uncovers how corporations have underreported emissions.
Gore warned that the daily dump of “162 million tons of man-made global warming pollution into that thin shell of atmosphere around the planet” needs to stop. He blasted the audience with the climate reality that the amount of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere traps as much heat as would be released from detonating 600,000 Hiroshima class atomic bombs on the Earth every single day. Not just inconvenient, but an explosive truth indeed.
To fight climate change, four primary concerns must be addressed globally: mitigation, adaptation, finance and collaboration. This year’s hot potato at COP is accountability. Some world leaders are now ready to show solidarity with one another and discuss – for the first time at the COP – who’s financing the “loss and damage” from climate change. It is an important and contentious discussion, made all the more so by the notable absences of the presidents of China, India, the United States and Russia. President Joe Biden arrived after the midterm elections.
While China, the United States, India, Russia, and European nations are responsible for the majority of emissions, the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations are collectively responsible for less than 1 percent of emissions. Poor nations are currently paying a price they can’t afford for a climate crisis they didn’t cause. With millions of migrants already displaced worldwide, many because of drought, failed crops and extreme weather events, international accountability is of critical importance.
It’s predicted that by 2050 at least 200 million people will become climate refugees. When considering that the overdeveloped countries are guilty of being the main emitters, it seems ethical and appropriate that the rich and responsible support the poor and innocent nations which lack the infrastructure to adapt to the changing climate. Sadly, industrialized, wealthy nations of the Northern Hemisphere continue to evade proper responsibility for the victims of climate change in the Global South.
Wanjira Mathai, Kenyan environmentalist and daughter of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, stressed that “we have a crisis in empathy.” She warned that “we don’t acknowledge just how connected we are.” An unshakeable fact is that wealthy Northern countries are burning fossil fuels at uninterrupted rates while the poorer Southern countries are paying a price they can’t afford, ultimately with their lives.
“Humanity has a choice: cooperate or perish,” Guterres told delegates, urging them to speed up the transition from fossil fuels and prioritize funding to poorer countries. He also called for a Climate Solidarity Pact and suggested implementation of a tax on the private sector and oil companies to finance loss and damage. U.S. oil and gas companies generated profits worth $73.7 billion last year.
Biden’s pledge of investing $369 billion to accelerate America’s transition away from fossil fuels brings active hope to the global community. And here in New York State, the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act passed with 67% support. It includes $4.2 billion investment in projects that include wetlands restoration to mitigate sea level rise, heat pumps, electrification and other ways to enhance climate resiliency.
All of these are great steps in the right direction, and we must celebrate the progress. But please keep in mind that adapting to climate change and mitigating future harm will incur cost, not just in cash but also in comfort. We must reduce consumption until we figure out how to recycle renewables.
Wealthy Americans can’t replace the Hummer with three Teslas and think they’re part of the climate solution. Rare earth mineral extraction is already causing extensive harm to sensitive ecosystems, with associated social justice issues. Plans to mine the bottom of the deep sea are equally concerning given we don’t know the downstream consequences of such actions.
While we make necessary emission cuts, compassion and empathy are wonderful renewable energies that can sustainably power our psychological investment in global well-being.
