In the last days climate change has come back in the spotlight.
Not only for the impressive heat wave that is certainly hitting at least the mediterrean countries, but also because of the political wave that has been central in continental Europe.
We are talking about G20 just ended in Germany last week.
Indeed, the most important political leaders, at least economically speaking among industrialising countries, have met in Hamburg in order to discuss an agenda that featured the most urgent issues nowadays.
Among the topics of interest there was of course climate change.
Angela Merkel, for a lot of people the most powerful woman in Europe- if not in the world, has commented negatively the unfortunately famous decision of the american President to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
Nonetheless, all the leaders (except for Trump, indeed) has defined such accord irreversible and out of question when it comes about renegotiating it.
An very influential article has been published lately that combines these two sides: climate change and political action.
Indeed the Potsdam Istitute for Climate Research Impact (PIK) once again stresses the urgent need of reduction of fossil fuel use in order to avoid extreme weather events, such as heat waves.
Nothing new, you would say.
Yes, but what is interesting about this publication is the perfect timing and, therefore, the remarkable efforts by the science class to meet the political world.
In the article six milestones are set in order to cause an unprecedented clean industrial revolution, directed in particular to developed countries.
These are the milestones cited by the article, that you can find here.
Those has to be met by 2020 if human kind wants to keep the average temperature increase below +2°C.
Energy. Renewables make up at least 30% of the world’s electricity supply — up from 23.7% in 2015 . No coal-fired power plants are approved beyond 2020, and all existing ones are being retired.
Infrastructure. Cities and states have initiated action plans to fully decarbonize buildings and infrastructures by 2050, with funding of $300 billion annually. Cities are upgrading at least 3% of their building stock to zero- or near-zero emissions structures each year
Transport. Electric vehicles make up at least 15% of new car sales globally, a major increase from the almost 1% market share that battery-powered and plug-in hybrid vehicles now claim. Also required are commitments for a doubling of mass-transit utilization in cities, a 20% increase in fuel efficiencies for heavy-duty vehicles and a 20% decrease in greenhouse-gas emissions from aviation per kilometre travelled.
Land. Land-use policies are enacted that reduce forest destruction and shift to reforestation and afforestation efforts. Current net emissions from deforestation and land-use changes form about 12% of the global total. If these can be cut to zero next decade, and afforestation and reforestation can instead be used to create a carbon sink by 2030, it will help to push total net global emissions to zero, while supporting water supplies and other benefits. Sustainable agricultural practices can reduce emissions and increase CO2 sequestration in healthy, well-managed soils.
Industry. Heavy industry is developing and publishing plans for increasing efficiencies and cutting emissions, with a goal of halving emissions well before 2050. Carbon-intensive industries — such as iron and steel, cement, chemicals, and oil and gas — currently emit more than one-fifth of the world’s CO2, excluding their electricity and heat demands.
Finance. The financial sector has rethought how it deploys capital and is mobilizing at least $1 trillion a year for climate action. Most will come from the private sector. Governments, private banks and lenders such as the World Bank need to issue many more ‘green bonds’ to finance climate-mitigation efforts. This would create an annual market that, by 2020, processes more than 10 times the $81 billion of bonds issued in 2016
To conclude, the author Christiana Figueres states that the goals cited above are not just naive attempts, but could become reality, since, for example, fossil-free economy is already as a matter of fact already profitable.
Steemgreaners, what do you think about it?
Source- Article: Christiana Figueres, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Gail Whiteman, Johan Rockström, Anthony Hobley, Stefan Rahmstorf (2017): Three years to safeguard our climate. Nature
