Climate Change – Big Steps Forward or Too Little, Too Late? ROMILLY

CLIMATE CHANGE – BIG STEPS FORWARD OR TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?

By Romilly

In a year where so much has come to a halt because of the global pandemic, the world's longest under-sea electricity cable, which will transfer green power between Norway and the UK, has begun operation.

The 450-mile cable, which took 6 years to build, connects Blyth in Northumberland with the Norwegian village of Kvilldal, through mountains, fjords and across the North Sea. The joint venture between the UK’s National Grid and the Norwegian power operator, Statnett, cost £1.37bn to build and it is estimated that it will help the UK to reduce carbon emissions by 23 million tonnes by 2030.

Hydropower in Norway and wind power in the UK are both subject to weather conditions and fluctuations in demand. Using the North Sea Link, renewable power can either be exported from the UK when wind generation is high and electricity demand low or be imported from Norway when demand is high and wind generation low. At full capacity it will import enough hydropower to supply 1.4 million homes. There are four other power cables running to Belgium, France and the Netherlands and it is estimated that by 2030, almost 90% of energy imported in this way could be from zero carbon sources.

It’s a big step forward, but it’s not enough.

The world needs a massive and sustained shift in the demand for, and supply of, energy used in manufacturing and industry away from fossil fuels. Coal, crude oil, and natural gas are all considered fossil fuels because they were formed from the fossilised, buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Because of their origins, fossil fuels have a high carbon content.

Carbon emissions affect the planet significantly, as they are the greenhouse gas with the highest levels of emissions into the atmosphere; carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned. This causes global warming and ultimately, climate change. The world needs to be moving towards low carbon, if it will ever get close to being carbon neutral and then net zero.

As individuals, we need to work towards zero carbon sources in every part of our lives. We need to support suppliers that may not be lower carbon today but have plans in place to significantly reduce their carbon footprint, or better still, become carbon zero. Supporting companies that are making the effort now is just as important as supporting companies that are already there, because not many companies started life carbon zero from day one.

At the start of the Covid crisis, our government told us that we are all in this together – the climate crisis is no different. The planet’s carbon budget is finite, and it is running out. But we will need more than cables laid around the planet between different countries to help meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

We need to look at where the carbon emissions are. That means transforming energy, transport and industry – the sectors accounting for approximately 70% of global emissions. The Paris Agreement was founded on the need to be inclusive, no matter the starting point or stated ambition. Under the Paris Agreement today, major emitters – China, Japan and the US – have all committed positively to becoming net zero in the future.

Take the market for electric vehicles. The US car manufacturer, Tesla, sold nearly 500,000 electric vehicles last year. But that’s less than 1% of the 73 million cars sold every year. Toyota, VW and Renault Nissan together sell nearly 30 million

vehicles each year. So, if we are going to drastically improve our global climate crisis, we need forward-thinking companies like Tesla – but we need more than Tesla, we need other companies to improve.

So, we might not be able to choose to have our household power supply from the North Sea Link yet and we may not all be able to drive electric vehicles yet, but we CAN all make a difference through making informed choices, and that’s how we can all contribute to improving the climate crisis more quickly.

We all know the narrative around big companies overcontributing to the climate crisis, but it is up to us as individuals to reduce the demand for climatedamaging products, as this in turn will reduce manufacturing and supply, which will reduce carbon emissions.

If we don’t, our climate crisis will become a climate catastrophe and then we will know for certain that yes, we did too little, too late.

REFERENCES

bp.com; nrdc.org greenmatters.com bbc.co.uk