Diana Olick at CNBC – “Government can commit billions to combat climate change, but the financial markets, – they can commit trillions.”
Diana Olick at CNBC – “Government can commit billions to combat climate change, but the financial markets, – they can commit trillions.”
Lets hope it’s not just more blah, blah, blah or promises blowing in the wind, based on the whims of voting and popularity. .
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The world “has been here before” with a declaration in 2014 in New York “which failed to slow deforestation at all”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59088498
Dr. Mann set the bar for COP26 here:
https://climatecrocks.com/2021/10/31/michael-mann-what-does-success-look-like-in-glasgow/
Success in Glasgow, to him, is:
1. All major polluters commit to 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.
2. These governments don’t just ‘pledge’ – they take concrete steps towards those reductions.
3. Provide real assistance to the developing world to leapfrog FF.
COP26 has until 11/12. So far, with Biden leaving the conference today, it has:
1. Lots o’ speeches.
2. Limited to no involvement from China and Russia.
3. A pledge by the U.S. and EU to reduce their methane emissions by 30% by 2030. Methane is a minority source of warming – China’s methane emissions are double that of the U.S., and India has more methane emissions than the U.S. A 30% methane reduction by two regions of the world by 2030 isn’t nothing. It’s also nowhere close to Mann’s bar for COP26 success.
4. A concrete step by the U.S. to reduce approximately 1/50th of its yearly carbon emissions by EPA regulations in new (yes, new) methane production – dependent on the political party holding the Presidency. Sounds good, actually very weak.
5. Ending deforestation by 2030. But, we’ve been here before. A pledge doesn’t mean it will happen, and putting it a decade in the future makes it more of a promise than an action. In 2010, the world’s largest agricultural corporations promised to end deforestation by 2020, and failed:
https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2020/09/24/Food-giants-launch-new-deforestation-pledge-after-missing-2020-objectives-Our-approach-was-not-agile-enough
In 2014, multiple countries pledged a 50% reduction by 2020 and failed – (your BBC link).
6. A promise by bankers to help finance net zero by 2050. No word on FF financing for the next two decades.
7. India has pledged net zero by 2070. That’s an improvement over previously refusing to set a date at all:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/india-surprises-cop26-climate-summit-2070-target-net-zero-emissions-n1282933
I’m pretty sure that I, along with most of today’s leaders (including Biden, Putin, Xi, Kishida, Merkel, Bolsonaro) will be net-zero by 2070.
Sadly, I fear it is more “blah, blah, blah”. Politicians the world over have an excellent record of not keeping the promises they make.