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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/20/cop27-summit-climate-crisis-global-heating-fossil-fuel-industry>
"When the history of the climate crisis is written, in whatever world awaits
us, Cop27 will be seen as the moment when the dream of keeping global heating
below 1.5C died.
Does that mean giving up? Absolutely not. The 1.5C target is not a threshold
beyond which hope also dies. Every fraction of a degree means an increase in
human suffering and must therefore be fought for. How? With everything we have,
to tear down the barrier between us and climate stability: the fossil fuel
industry.
The 1.5C target, beyond which the most disastrous climate impacts lie, is not
yet physically impossible to meet. To achieve that, global carbon emissions
must be reduced by 50% by 2030, yet record levels of pollution are still being
pumped into the atmosphere.
The scientific warnings before Cop27 could not have been louder: we are on the
brink of irreversible climate breakdown. Behind closed doors at the summit,
however, the fossil fuel states forced other countries to fight tooth and nail
merely to preserve the inadequate status quo.
On Friday, a Saudi Arabian delegate said: “We should not target sources of
energy; we should focus on emissions. We should not mention fossil fuels.”
Despite the efforts of many other countries, the final decision text duly
failed to mention phasing out fossil fuels.
It is extraordinary that in 30 years of UN climate negotiations, eliminating
the primary cause of global heating has never been mentioned in the decisions.
Given that next year’s UN climate summit will be hosted by a petrostate, the
United Arab Emirates, it is hard to see how a crackdown on fossil fuels will
happen there either.
The world should be sprinting to rid itself of its fossil fuel addiction as if
lives depend on it, because they do, but it is jogging on the spot. The 1.5C
goal may not yet be physically impossible to achieve, but Cop27 has shown it is
politically impossible.
So, what now? It remains imperative to get off coal, oil and gas as rapidly as
possible. Every tonne of CO2 that remains in the ground means less harm to
lives and livelihoods."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
