{"id":1680,"date":"2018-09-25T17:44:10","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T17:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euromenaenergy.com\/?p=1680"},"modified":"2018-09-25T17:44:10","modified_gmt":"2018-09-25T17:44:10","slug":"the-case-against-climate-despair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/?p=1680","title":{"rendered":"The case against climate despair"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Carl Bildt \/Stockholm<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Heat waves and extreme-weather events across the Northern Hemisphere this summer have brought climate change back to the forefront of public debate.
\nEarly analyses strongly suggest that natural disasters such as Hurricane Florence \u2013 which barrelled into the US East Coast this month \u2013 have been exacerbated by rising global temperatures.
\nThough US President Donald Trump has reneged on the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the rest of the world is becoming increasingly convinced of the need to limit greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions.
\nLast month, a group of climate scientists published a report in the US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences warning that the planet could be on a path to becoming a \u201chothouse\u201d that may not be habitable for humans.
\nThe Earth has already registered the highest temperatures since the last Ice Age.
\nBut, as the report notes, what we are experiencing today will be nothing compared to what is in store if average global temperatures surpass 2\u00b0 Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
\nAt that point, the authors write, \u201c(global) warming could activate important tipping elements, raising the temperature further to activate other tipping elements in a domino-like cascade that could take the Earth System to even higher temperatures.\u201d The scientific debate about climactic tipping points and nightmare scenarios is ongoing.
\nBut no one can say for certain that the risks outlined in the \u201cHothouse Earth\u201d report are not real.
\nBut there is another risk: that warnings such as these will lead to despair.
\nNumerous reports have already concluded that it will be exceedingly difficult to meet the targets outlined in the Paris agreement.
\nBut to conclude that the situation is hopeless is not just dangerous; it is also factually incorrect.
\nAfter all, political and technological developments that are underway offer grounds for genuine hope.
\nAt the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, California, this month, there was plenty of talk about the numerous alarming reports that have come out in recent months and years.
\nBut the real focus was on the Exponential Climate Action Roadmap, a major new study showing that progress in the use of non-fossil-fuel technologies is advancing not just linearly, but exponentially.
\nYou may not realise it, but solar- and wind-power usage is doubling every four years. If that continues, at least half of global electricity production could come just from these two forms of renewable energy by 2030.
\nAnd there is no good reason to think that progress couldn\u2019t accelerate further.
\nJust in the past few years, there have been rapid advances in solar-energy technologies and energy storage.
\nThe Global Commission on the Economy and Climate estimates that $90tn will be invested in new infrastructure around the world over the course of the next 15 years.
\nOwing to the new technologies that are now emerging \u2013 not just in energy but in the digital domain as well \u2013 humanity could have an historic opportunity to leapfrog into far more sustainable, carbon-neutral patterns of habitation.
\nMoreover, in addition to the far-reaching advances in technology, there is also growing private- and public-sector awareness of the importance of factoring sustainability into all decisions.
\nNew approaches to energy, industry, architecture, city planning, transportation, agriculture, and forestry have the potential to halve GHG emissions by 2030.
\nBut that will happen only if a broad coalition of decision-makers decides to deploy them.
\nFortunately, governments and major corporations have begun to show leadership on these issues.
\nAs a result, GHG emissions have already peaked in 49 countries that account for 40% of global emissions; and ten countries have even committed to being carbon-neutral by 2050.
\nCalifornia and Sweden say that they will produce zero net emissions by 2045.
\nThe Exponential Climate Action Roadmap shows that we do still have a say over our climate future.
\nThe dangers that await us cannot be denied.
\nIf GHG emissions and rising temperatures continue on their current trajectories, we could well reach the point at which future generations will have to endure \u201cHothouse Earth,\u201d assuming that they can survive at all.
\nBut just as recent scientific work has underscored the dangers of climate change, so, too, has it shown the way forward.
\nThere is hope in the rapid diffusion of new technologies, and in the growing awareness of the problem within industry, government, and civil society.
\nIf we can ensure exponential technological progress and marshal the necessary political will, we can tackle the climate crisis.
\nA \u201cStable Earth\u201d is still within our reach. \u2013 Project Syndicate<\/p>\n

\u00a0Carl Bildt is a former prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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