Filenews 7 November 2021 - by Panicos Panayiotou
Without joint action by the most polluting countries, the disastrous course of the planet will not be reversed. Today, China is considered the "big culprit" and its emissions are more than double those of the US, but historically, the US has broadcast more than any other country in the world. Now, under joe Biden's presidency, the U.S. leadership is seeking to prevent the worst and the country to turn to clean energy with billions of dollars in investment.
Speaking last Monday at the UN climate conference (COP26) in Glasgow, the American President said one of his first decisions was to bring the US back to the Paris Agreement. As he said, the primary goal is to limit overheating well below 2 degrees Celsius, compared to the pre-industrial period, and if possible by 1.5 degrees Celsius, calling this battle a "huge opportunity" for the global economy. The first important step was the decision to regulate methane emissions.
It is therefore clear that the US appears determined to correct errors and take meaningful action to tackle climate change. Of course, the political scene in Washington does not leave much room for optimism. It's not just the Republicans' refusal to take drastic action, but it's also the reactions to Biden's policy from some senators and democratic party lawmakers.
At the same time, China, Russia and other developing countries are refraining from committing to bold steps. The American leader attended the Glasgow conference, but Chinese Xi Jinping and Russian Vladimir Putin did not attend, showing their true intentions. The Beijing regime and Moscow do not want to bear the economic costs of a radical reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The Russian economy, for example, is highly dependent on the exploitation of the hydrocarbons (oil, gas and coal) that produce these emissions.
As mentioned in an extensive analysis by the New York Times, China, Australia and Russia either failed to set new targets for reducing carbon emissions this decade or announced targets that scientists consider "weak. India has pledged to significantly increase renewable energy, but coal, which provides most of India's electricity, will remain much of its energy mix in the next decade. Brazil has announced it will cut emissions by 50% by 2030, but most analysts believe President Jair Bolsonaro will not keep that commitment. Although the Glasgow conference is seen as the 'last chance', its results are expected to be limited. The same thing happened at the G20 leaders' meeting, where there was no commitment to phase out coal-fired power generation or stop the construction of new coal plants.
China is ahead of the list of the most polluting countries by a wide margin (it emits about 28% of global carbon dioxide emissions and now emits more greenhouse gases than the developed world combined) and is followed by: the USA, India, Russia, Japan, Brazil, Indonesia, Germany and Canada. It seems that the main reason why the leaderships of several of the above-mentioned more polluting countries avoid fulfilling the obligations arising from the agreements so far and to make further commitments is not because the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner forms of energy is an "existential threat" to their states, but because the fossil fuel lobby (as well as the war industries lobby) is powerful and seems to be largely it controls leaderships and determines policies.
For thirty years, United Nations summits on climate change have been held, starting in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. More than 150 countries had agreed to stabilise emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases at a level that "would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system". Since then, however, exactly the opposite has been the case. Humanity is captive by economic interests, and most of the leaderships of large and small states are steeped in corruption and entanglement. While climate change now touches all corners of the Earth and the Paris Agreement in 2015 was seen as a "key milestone" in the efforts of the international community to prevent the coming disaster, extreme weather events have further worsened and global emissions are expected to increase by 16% by 2030.
No area is safe
According to several experts, what has happened this year (unprecedented fires, hurricanes and floods, melting glaciers and rising sea levels) indicates the state of emergency that our planet has fallen into. Based on the latest report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (the sixth in a row since 1988), the average global temperature may rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2040, but the increase can now occur at any time.
"I don't see any area safe, there's no place to run, no place to hide," said Linda Mearns, a scientist at the United States National Center for Atmospheric Research. The US President, Joe Biden, recently said that extreme weather events will cost his country more than $100 billion this year, exceeding last year's cost of $99 billion.
