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CLIMATE CHANGE


COP27: ONLY TOGETHER CAN WE WIN

At COP27, loss and damage must not to be pushed away with another puny promise
of a fund that never materialises but be accepted as a legitimate demand of
countries that need climate reparations

 
 







NEXT BLOG ❯


BY SUNITA NARAIN

PUBLISHED: TUESDAY 01 NOVEMBER 2022

It’s a nightmare moment for climate change activists like me as we head for the
next conference of parties (COP27) — this time being organised in the coastal
city of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

The rich world, which has to act decisively to cut fossil fuel emissions and to
finance transitions in the rest of the world, is going through its own economic
crisis. Energy prices are high; this winter, it will be tough for households to
stay warm. Climate change sceptics and the fossil fuel industry are close to
taking a victory lap as they whip up public opinion against the needed energy
transition — out of fossil fuel and into cleaner sources.

The rich countries are already moving towards reinvestment in fossil fuels,
although they say this is temporary and that they will go back to meeting their
commitments to decarbonise. It’s going to be a hard winter and beyond.

This is when every region has experienced the pain of extreme weather disasters
— from floods to heatwaves, and from forest fires to the changing intensity and
frequency of cyclones and hurricanes. We are seeing a glimpse of what awaits us
as temperatures increase further — from the 1.1°C rise now since the
pre-industrial era. It is the revenge-of-nature moment that we have brought on
ourselves by years of procrastination.

The world has refused, again and again, to accept the basic principles that must
guide action on climate change.

 * First, climate change is a global problem and it requires cooperation between
   all nations.
 * Second, it needs rules that are fair and just, for the poor and the rich
   alike.
 * Third, science is clear that humans are responsible for the global
   temperature rise and that this increase will lead to more and more variable
   and extreme weather events, much like what we are seeing now.
 * Four, it is possible to estimate each country’s responsibility for the stock
   of emissions already in the atmosphere — the historical cumulative emissions
   that have “forced” climate change impacts.
 * And fifth, countries that have not yet contributed to the emissions will do
   so in the future, simply because the world has reneged on the need to make
   global rules that would apply fairly to all.

This is not a tragedy of the commons. It is a monumental failure of collective
leadership. Our failure.

At COP27, we have an opportunity to repair this terrible mess we are in — not
all of it, but at least to restore a semblance of trust. The world can do this
by putting on the table the issue of loss and damage — the negotiations on the
need to pay for damages that the countries of the South are experiencing because
of climate change.

RELATED STORIES

 * NASA spots 50 methane super-emitters on Earth
 * Air pollution second leading risk factor for death across Africa
 * Record greenhouse gas emissions: Time running out, warns UN
 * As world converges for an African CoP, the continent’s east bets on
   geothermal
 * Irony just died: Coca-Cola, among biggest global polluters, to sponsor CoP27

The issue of loss and damage is not new — the demand for this goes back to the
time when the climate agreement was in the making in the 1990s. But it has been
sidelined, openly rejected and dismissed.

It made its way into the Paris Agreement only after the affected and vulnerable
countries accepted that loss and damage would not become a basis for any
“liability or compensation”. This is when environmental jurisprudence demands
that the polluters should pay.

This global politics, where the rules are made by the rich and for the rich, as
it would seem, needs to be addressed in the face of the catastrophic events that
are breaking the backs of countries, making their people even more vulnerable to
future shocks and forcing them to migrate out of homes that they call their own.

We cannot just call these events new normal and turn the page. This is why loss
and damage must be on the table — not to be pushed away with another puny
promise of a fund that never materialises but to be accepted as a legitimate
demand of countries that need reparations for damages they are enduring.

But this negotiation must be based on the agreement enshrined in the climate
convention — that cumulative emissions of countries must be the basis of their
responsibility to act. The numbers on the emissions — and which countries have
appropriated the carbon budget of the world — are known and cannot be dismissed.

This has to be the basis of who will be liable to pay compensation for the loss
and damage. Given that the gentlemen-negotiators do not like to call a spade a
spade, they can choose to avoid all the references to liability or compensation,
but they must not erase the principle of why and who in the world must take this
action.

The world must also go back to rule-based decisions and not base its decision on
the whims and fancies of the powerful. I am saying this because facts show that
China — part of the Group of developing countries — is now yesterday’s US. Its
annual emissions are double of what the US, the second highest (but historically
largest), emits.

By 2030, China will equalise its emissions on a per capita basis with the US and
also its share of the already depleted carbon budget. This is why we need rules
for all — what was proposed in 1992 and what the world has shunned and shirked.
Had the US agreed to emission reductions based on its contribution, the same
would have been applied to others — including China. But now, it’s free for all.

This is not the regime that the world needs for loss and damage. There is enough
evidence that while countries could have worked to reduce climate impacts, say,
through better flood and drainage planning, the scale and ferocity of the
extreme events are unprecedented and devastating. So, this climate nightmare
moment can turn into a dream only if the world that gathers in Egypt has the
courage to act differently and to realise that in this only one Earth of ours,
we are interdependent.



जलवायु परिवर्तन से जुड़ी सभी खबरें हिंदी में पढ़ें।
sharm el-sheikh Loss and Damage Extreme Weather Events fossil fuel Clean energy
Climate Change World
Subscribe to Daily Newsletter :

SUPPORT US


We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build
journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us
by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news,
perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.

RELATED STORIES

 * NASA spots 50 methane super-emitters on Earth
 * Air pollution second leading risk factor for death across Africa
 * Record greenhouse gas emissions: Time running out, warns UN
 * As world converges for an African CoP, the continent’s east bets on
   geothermal
 * Irony just died: Coca-Cola, among biggest global polluters, to sponsor CoP27

Post a Comment
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Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s
approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments
may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.

NEXT STORY

CLIMATE CHANGE


WHAT LONG-TERM ECONOMIC STAGNATION MEANS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Steel industry is a key driver of climate change and is responsible for
around 7% to 9% of global carbon emissions

 
 







NEXT BLOG ❯


BY JACK COPLEY

PUBLISHED: MONDAY 31 OCTOBER 2022

The financial shock the UK has recently suffered is of course bad for green
investment. The Rishi Sunak-led government is also likely to use this crisis to
push for further public spending cuts that will rule out a truly transformative
green agenda.

However, in my recent academic paper I argue that the economic obstacles to
effective decarbonisation are more deeply entrenched than that. We can’t simply
blame a bad government budget or even the global market turmoil sparked by
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Instead, the global economy has been trapped in a state of relative stagnation
in rates of growth, productivity, investment and profitability since at least
the 2008 financial crisis, with some scholars even dating the onset of the
malaise to the 1970s. This so-called secular stagnation is a global trend, but
the UK has performed particularly poorly.

This represents a colossal problem for mainstream visions of decarbonisation.
Most states, business groups and international organisations believe it must be
driven by a tremendous global boom in private investment in renewable energy and
sustainable infrastructure – estimates range from $4.4 trillion a year until
2050 up to $9.2 trillion a year.

In this view, the role of states is to shepherd investors away from “brown”
fossil fuel assets and towards green ones. The problem with this “green growth”
vision is that for decades it has proven very difficult for states to generate
any global, sustained boom in private investment – whether green or brown.

There is no consensus on the causes of this long-term stagnation, with different
scholars pointing to slowing population growth, anti-labour policy agendas, or
industrial overproduction. Yet what is clear is that stagnation acts as a
fundamental drag on efforts to green the world economy. A few examples can
illustrate this.


STEEL AND SOLAR

The steel industry is a key driver of climate change and is responsible for
around 7 per cent to 9 per cent of global carbon emissions. Currently, many
steel plants burn coke to heat their blast furnaces, releasing carbon dioxide in
the process. There are several ways to green this process, with perhaps the most
plausible involving the use of green hydrogen and electric arc furnaces.

The problem is that these green solutions are expensive, in an industry that is
already wracked by overproduction and weak profitability. Reorganising
production and retooling factories worldwide would require firms to make massive
investments, but glutted steel markets mean that such investments would be
unlikely to yield high returns. The stagnant state of the industry therefore
militates against its rapid decarbonisation.

Most of the world’s steel is made in China, and China makes more than it can
sell. chinahbzyg / shutterstock

At first glance, solar power looks like the polar opposite of an old, heavy
industry like steel. The production of solar panels is literally a sunrise
industry: from the early 2000s, when generous renewable energy subsidies were
introduced in Europe, investment has flooded in and generated a boom.

And yet there are signs that this industry too is increasingly hampered by
chronic overcapacity and vanishing profitability. As production has become
increasingly concentrated in China, where it is most cost-effective, the
industry has been transformed by automation and massive economies of scale. It
now resembles a typical commodities business with a high output of standardised
products, and low prices and profits. As The Economist recently labelled the
industry: “Good for the planet – but hardly a gold mine”. Many solar firms have
gone bankrupt or simply abandoned the sector.

There has yet to be a grinding slowdown in solar panel production in response to
these weak profits, partly due to massive subsidies in China.


DEMOCRATISING DECARBONISATION

These dynamics can be found across many sectors that require urgent
decarbonisation, from industry to energy to transport. For those who think
climate change can only be resolved by markets and private investors, it’s an
existential threat to their worldview. Yet the stagnation doesn’t actually show
that decarbonisation is impossible, rather that it will be difficult to do so by
capitalist means.

The solar industry could be collectively owned and democratically run. ME Image
/ shutterstock

For this reason, it is important to take seriously radical visions of
decarbonisation that involve using collective ownership and democratic economic
planning to rapidly expand renewable infrastructure. Faced with an unprecedented
environmental catastrophe and the inertia of private markets, why should key
industries like steel or solar be run according to the principle of profit
maximisation instead of climate stability?

Run in a collective and democratic manner, the production of solar panels could
be carefully managed to address a range of social concerns, from meeting carbon
emissions goals to protecting communities where quartz mining is located to
ensuring fair working practices in silicon factories. Deliberation between
stakeholders would replace the blind imperative of money making.

While similar proposals can be found in some strands of green new deal and
degrowth thought, these measures remain marginal to the broader debate on
decarbonisation. Such a radical departure from contemporary economic orthodoxy
is unlikely to be adopted by governments unless they are pushed by powerful
social movements. Building such movements is the challenge of our time.

Jack Copley, Assistant Professor in International Political Economy, Durham
University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons
license. Read the original article.



जलवायु परिवर्तन से जुड़ी सभी खबरें हिंदी में पढ़ें।
Emission Targets Economic Development Iron And Steel Industry Global Warming
Green House Gases Climate Change World
Subscribe to Daily Newsletter :

SUPPORT US


We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build
journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us
by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news,
perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.

Post a Comment
Please Sign In to post a comment.

Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s
approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments
may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.






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