The Good, The Bad and The COP26 🌏

COP26

Note: This article contains spoilers for Bill Gates’ “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” book. To skip and miss the spoilers, skip Chapter 3. 

6 years ago, 195 world leaders came together to negotiate one of the most influential agreements in the World. COP21 held in Paris was a remarkable feat in terms of global cooperation, sustainability and commitments. After the draft of that deal was finalised, all World Leaders met in New York at the UN Building and signed the now infamous Paris Climate Agreement. 

In the blink of an eye, 6 years flew just like that. As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres mentioned “The 6 years since the Paris Climate Agreement have been the 6 hottest years on record”. It’s true. The planet is burning, we are “digging our own graves” and we are choking ourselves in the air that we polluted. By 2050, if nothing is done, the World will enter into global chaos, beginning the 6th mass extinction. The extinction of Humans. As Naturalist David Attenborough said “Is this how our story is due to end? A tale of the smartest species doomed by that all too human characteristic of failing to see the bigger picture in pursuit of short-term goals.”  

To solve this disaster, in 1995, the Conference of the Parties or COP was created to solve the problems of Climate Change. 26 Conferences later and now we are bracing for impact. We have lost control of a plane that we are all on as it flies slowly into a mountain. Now we are at our 26th COP, or COP26, this conference will be the test for our World Leaders. They are the pilots on this plane and if they regain their consciousness can we finally regain control of this plane. 

Chapter 1 - ‘We Are Already In Trouble’

Let’s start will Temperature. Scientists say that we should try our best to keep Global Annual Increase in Temperature below 1.5°C and try not to hit 2°C as much as we can. Anything above that is essentially Game Over for humanity. Right now, in 2021, we are on track to go way above that 2°C mark and if nothing is done by 2050, Global Annual Increase in Temperature will be more than 3°C at best. Even if all targets and goals are met by 2050, our best case scenario is 2.5°C. 

Here’s a rough outline of what will happen if we hit that 3°C mark. Some of the information is quite brutal so to summarise the paragraph in two words ‘Global Chaos’. We will see an increase in Floods, Fires and Natural Disasters in general. A decrease in polar ice caps and therefore an increase in sea levels which will drown some of the world’s biggest cities, causing mass migration. An increase in droughts and famines will also decrease our already fragile food supply. 

Next, let’s talk about Emissions. As of 2019, the world emitted 51 Billion Tons of Carbon. In 2020, the world emitted around 39 Billion Tons of Carbon. But its clear why the world emitted less in 2020. Remember COVID-19? Thanks to the Pandemic, the number of flights decreased, economies stalled and the world emitted less carbon. Scientists and Climatologists estimate that by 2050, we have to emit roughly 15% of our current carbon emissions. Anything above and its Game Over for us.

Moving on to Funding. As part of COP26, one of the many focus points was funding for net-zero climate projects. Obviously, there is no receipt with the definite amount of money we need to spend on for climate action on it. The estimate is that we need around $2 Trillion with a ‘T’. But as with Climate Change, everything falls short. Finance for Climate Action has been low and underfunded and many countries are essentially fighting to survive without any money. 

Chapter 2 - Death Sentence

Nearly 3000 miles way from Auckland, New Zealand sits the Pacific Island Nation of the Marshall Islands and its Capital City of Majuro. Majuro is the one of the lowest lying cities in the World. At certain points on the small island atoll, it’s only 2-metres above sea level. Home to around 28,000 people, it sits on a small atoll roughly 9.2km² in size and at some points, it’s a mere 10-metre wide on both sides. Majuro is being eaten daily and its expected that by 2030, about half of Majuro will be taken by the ocean. 

As Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley described at COP26, “We do not want that dreaded death sentence. And so we come here to say, try harder.” For many low lying nations, those in the Caribbean, the Pacific and Africa, “1.5 is needed for us to survive”. Soon, many of these nations will go and as the Prime Minister puts it “One no less significant than when the United Nations was formed in 1945, but then, the majority of the countries here did not exist, we exist now. The difference is we want to exist a 100 years from now.”

Chapter 3 - Windows to the Green Premium

In the midst of a Global Pandemic, Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the real-life Monopoly Man, published a book, ‘How to Avoid a Climate Disaster’. (Ironic that a book about Climate Change is made from paper) So I got my hand on it and I read the book and to summarise the book in my own words. “It’s like Science for Beginners”. 

If you gave me $100 to guess on which corporate leader would write a book about Climate Change, I would have guessed wrongly a lot of times. While I like that Bill Gates is contributing to solve Climate Change, his book is a bit of a hard read. For example, Page 88 talks about Nuclear Fusion and how we can harness electricity from that, but too be honest, I don’t care how Nuclear Fusion works and the fusion of Hydrogen Particles, all I want comes down to two big questions. 

1. Does this technique provide an efficient source of clean energy?

2. How can we build this stuff at a low cost and at a quicker rate?

While I like that Bill Gates is leading this charge but the book also feels a bit personal. Once again, don’t care about pointless details like on Page 66 on how Bill Gates and his son used to visit Power Plants for fun. 

But while the world likes to target Bill Gates, he does bring up good points in his book, most notably, the Green Premium (thus the name of the chapter). A Green Premium is basically how much more a product will cost when produce sustainably. I will give the example on the table found on Page 107, It states that a imperial ton of Cement costs $125 on average, after capturing the carbon produced, the price per ton goes up to about $260 so the Green Premium is the difference which is $135. 

He states on Page 60 that the goal is for “the premiums to be so low that everyone is able to decarbonise.” Simply put, bring the Green Premiums down through a mix of technological innovation, research and development etc. 

Chapter 4 - The Champions of Climate Action 

Oslo, the capital of Norway, is considered to be the greenest city in the World. An estimated 68% of the city is green spaces and parks while the city made the goal to be as car-free as possible in 2017 and it revived The Central District with pedestrian and shoppers alike. Some cities, especially European ones have taken notice. Cities like Madrid, Hamburg, London, Vienna all have plans to become more green. Take Paris, currently a not very green city, their 2030 goal is to upgrade existing roads and streets to have trees on each sides.

While Oslo is green, Kigali is clean. The capital city of Rwanda 🇷🇼, an African city is considered by many as the cleanest city in the World. This is probably due to the strict cleaning laws put in place. On the last Saturday of every month, all citizens are required to take part in a cleanup within their neighbourhood. Countries have outlined plans to make recycling easier and more convenient as well. Some cities even have strict recycling laws in place to encourage recycling…

Then there is the Crown Champion of Climate Action, Bhutan 🇧🇹, the world’s only carbon-neutral and carbon-negative country. This is partly thanks to the enormous effort put in place. In the Bhutan Constitution, it states that 60% of forest cover must be preserved forever. Their Government are investing in programmes to encourage the use of electric cars and the preservation of forests. Currently, Bhutan offsets around 50 million metric tons of carbon. To find out more, watch this TED Talk by former Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay where he goes into a bit more details then me…

Chapter 5 - Nuclear Illusion

When you hear the word ‘Nuclear’, what comes to mind? Your mind probably flashes words such as Danger, Harmful, Deadly. Nuclear has a problem. Our mind thinks back to those scary events, the Atomic Bombs (1945), the Chernobyl Disaster (1986), Three Mile Island (1979) and Fukushima (2010). 

When thinking about it, Nuclear seems very deadly and very dangerous. But looking at the numbers and Nuclear is safe. When measuring the number of deaths per terra-watt (For comparison, 1 terra-watt can power 200,000 homes). Nuclear comes in at 0.07. Coal, on the other hand, comes in at around 40. 

There are obviously some Pros and Cons towards Nuclear Power. The advantages include the fact that Nuclear is Safe (from the data above), Reliable and Constant power. The disadvantages include things such as Location, Costs, Spending, Maintenance etc. In fact, Nuclear is the second best source of renewable energy behind hydropower. Geothermal, while constant and reliable like Nuclear, involves drilling holes into grounds to harness the power needed. As for Wind and Solar Energy, the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. Therefore Nuclear and Hydro are amazing. 

 

Chapter 6 - Doomsday and the 6th Mass Extinction

This COP26 article is my second Climate Change article on this blog. The last one was ironically titled It’s time we get serious about Climate Change. The second chapter of that article referenced the Doomsday Clock. It was used by analysts to calculate the perceived amount of time we had before ‘Doomsday’. In 2021, the Doomsday Clock counted 30 seconds to midnight, the closest we have ever been since the clock was launched back in 1945. 

It is said that there have been 5 mass extinction over time. If we don’t turn this Climate Disaster around, we are on the brink of a 6th one. Our mass extinction. Thanks to the already felt effects of Climate Change, everyday, its estimated that we are losing 100-300 species of plants, animals etc. To end this on a dark tone, Doomsday is perceived differently between all of us. By 2050, we could be looking towards a possible Doomsday scenario and if nothing is done, Doomsday will come…

Happy Reading!

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