US faces test of its climate credibility at COP28
US faces test of its climate credibility at COP28
Here’s what the UNFCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) had to say about what was achieved at the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates November 30 – December 13, 2023:
“Some 85,000 participants, including more than 150 Heads of State and Government, were among the representatives of national delegations, civil society, business, Indigenous Peoples, youth, philanthropy, and international organizations in attendance. COP28 was particularly momentous as it marked the conclusion of the first ‘global stocktake’ of the world’s efforts to address climate change under the Paris Agreement. Having shown that progress was too slow across all areas of climate action – from reducing greenhouse gas emissions to strengthening resilience to a changing climate to getting financial and technological support to vulnerable nations – countries responded with a decision on how to accelerate action across all areas by 2030. This includes a call on governments to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels to renewables such as wind and solar power in their next round of climate commitments.”
Driven by climate change, the energy transition (including moving away from fossil fuels toward renewable generation) is meant to be achieved relatively quickly. However, it shouldn’t be shocking to anyone that our progress has been slow. We are making progress, but not enough and not quickly enough.
Usually, it’s a good thing to be at the top of a list, but in the case of two key climate-related metrics, the production of GHG-emitting fuels and the emission of GHG itself, the US is number 1 and 2, respectively. The fact is that China, the United States and India are the world’s biggest GHG emitters, producing 42.6% of all emissions, while the 100 least emitting countries only produce 2.9%. The top 10 countries are responsible for more than two-thirds of global GHG emissions, as shown in this sobering visual from the World Resource Institute. Without substantial efforts to combat climate change from these top emitters, the world cannot achieve its climate goals.
As a nation, the United States may be a global leader with a GDP of $26.95 trillion, but how can the US tell other countries to reduce their GHG emissions while not making sizeable improvements of its own? Why should anyone listen to us as the second-highest GHG-emitting country?
Yes, we have recent initiatives such as the IRA (Investment Reduction Act) and other pollution reduction policies. But they aren’t enough. We need to lead by example which means we need to do more than what we’ve managed until now.
Per data from Climate Watch, the energy sector produces over 73% of all GHGs. The three main areas of GHG emissions are electricity/heat, transportation and buildings.
Here are some thoughts on Mani’s mind for consideration about how we are doing in these areas.
Electricity
While utilities are doing a great job of reducing coal-fired plants, much of that is moving to natural gas, which, while being better than coal, is still a GHG-emitting fuel. We need to aggressively move towards renewable sources of energy, make storage more viable for common utilities at grid scale (i.e., more available, cheaper, more stable, and available for longer durations), and look at other alternatives such as nuclear. Yes, some of these may be more expensive, but we can look at other mechanisms to support those who cannot afford the higher cost. Affordability should not be an impediment to progress.
Transportation
Transportation needs to move aggressively towards electrification. Range anxiety is being solved (slowly but surely), and costs are coming down. There are a lot of alternative and excellent options available from more and more manufacturers. The current mandate of electrifying all personal vehicles by 2025+ (in many states) is not enough. Moving commercial vehicles (parcel delivery, metro buses, school buses and so on) to electric is one that can be achieved even faster through incentives. We need to do it sooner and faster. We also understand the impact of this on first-responder vehicles such as fire trucks, ambulances, utility bucket trucks, etc. Some of these may need to stay on internal combustion engines for much longer.
We are encouraged by the US current administration's recent announcement of $32.5 million in funding to advance transportation electrification as part of the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization. And we need to do more.
Buildings
Buildings can get to GHG-free quicker if utilities and transportation move. The primary source of building GHG emissions is heating, and we need to provide better alternative technologies such as heat pumps.
Bottom line: We need to walk the talk
This issue of reducing GHG cannot be a government-only issue; it cannot be a regulation-only issue. Without people embracing this change and internalizing it, we cannot succeed. But, I’m optimistic that if we work together across sectors and our communities, the US can be a leader in more than GDP. Let’s prove to the world that we can lead by example, not just with rhetoric.
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