Environment
Spade work towards a decarbonised future More than an environmental issue, climate change has become a colossal economic issue, which is getting worse by the day due to inaction, say experts. Now, a solution has come up. It is known as decarbonisation, says Angelica Buan in this article.
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n June this year, the G7 (Group of 7), that includes the US, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Canada, and representations from the European Union, issued a joint statement seeking for a "decarbonisation of the global economy over the course of this century." The communiqué, released on the final day of the G7 Summit held in Schloss Elmau in Germany, laid out an ultimate climate change agenda, and that is to decarbonise economies, targeting a zero-carbon global economy by 2100. This means curbing dependence on fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas; and committing at keeping the global average temperature below 2°C. The latter includes reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reached in 2010 by as much as 70% by 2050, which is the amount recommended by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a scientific intergovernmental body under the auspices of the United Nations (UN). Currently, global warming temperature has already reached approximately 0.9°C. Part of the G7 declaration is the elimination of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, pumping up investments in renewable energy, as well as prioritising climate change mitigation with development assistance and investment decisions. Observers say that the plan lacks binding provisions and is speckled with vague details, particularly on how these goals can be reached, except for pointing up the role of the financial sector in fossil fuel subsidies. On a parallel note with a similar agenda was the World Summit Climate & Territories held early July in Lyons, France. It was a meeting of some 1,000 officials and representatives from global networks of subnational and local governments, and other non-state actors who co-organised the event. The conference came down to a target of collectively reducing about 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon emissions by 2020. The strategy is to employ a territorial approach to address climate disruption efficiently.
Undertaking groundwork to decarbonise The issue of climate change has brought out the best and worst of economic progress and industrialisation. The greenhouse gas emissions from economic activities contribute significantly to global warming, an aspect to the changing climate. The Colorado-based University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, citing data from the IPCC, reported that in the last 100 years, the global temperature over all land and ocean surfaces swelled by 0.85°C. Decarbonisation is a complex but an achievable feat. Switching to renewable energy sources, implementing energy efficient designs and processes and using biofuels could contribute to containing GHG emissions at low levels. Nevertheless, fossil fuel still accounts for 80% of the world’s primary energy source.
Decarbonisation requires cutting dependence on fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas
The Deep Decarbonisation Pathways Project (DDPP), a draft of which was presented to the UN in July last year, outlines plans on how to keep carbon emissions within the set ideal limit. Fifteen countries, including five from Asia (South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, India and China), were identified as having the highest carbon emissions. A study has determined how each could cut down on its emissions by 2050. The so-called “carbon budget” indicates the amount of carbon that can still be emitted so as not to exceed the 2°C cap. China: heading towards a zero-carbon model China’s cumulative carbon dioxide emissions has been projected to amount 151 billion tonnes between 1990 to 2016, outpacing the US’s 147 billion tonnes total next year. AUGUST 2015
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