Is net-zero slowing progress on climate change? The answer might be yes.
A Using net-zero allows everyone off the hook and slows down the pressure to go zero carbon
BRUCE ANDERSON CEO
247SOLAR INC.
22
BRUCE ANDERSON CEO 247SOLAR INC.
n entire vocabulary has evolved to describe the concepts and goals around reducing carbon emissions to save a warming planet. Yet terms like renewable, net-zero, and zero carbon are not the same, and the differences are more than semantic. And, like many words, these terms are subject to different interpretations and can be used to obfuscate as well as to clarify. For example, the term renewable came out of the environmental and sustainability movements of the mid-20th century, not today’s era of unchecked climate change. It is useless today. Sure, biofuels may be renewable because they come from plants, but they generally are made with dirty electricity, and when they burn, they produce emissions, including CO2. Biofuels are not a contributor to net-zero, let alone zero carbon. Next comes a term that is perhaps even more insidious – net-zero. Net-zero has been in meaningful and public debate for some time, and it has become the default goal state for most efforts toward carbon reduction to mitigate climate change. But here’s the catch. Using net-zero allows everyone off the hook and slows down ENERGY AND MINES MAGAZINE
