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COP26 or cop-out?
4/11/21 21:04![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fridiSome background first:
Countries such as Poland, Vietnam and Chile, which rely heavily on coal - the single biggest contributor to global warming - are committing to move away from it. More than 40 countries have signed up to a statement to quit the use of the fossil fuel, and 190 nations and organisations have pledged to stop using it.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59155316
Now the bad news. The biggest contributors to coal production, coal consumption, and ultimately coal pollution, are not among those countries. You know who you are, cough China cough India cough US.
Sure, things aren't as simple as you might want them to be. For instance, emerging economies such as China (is it "emerging" any more? really?) might have no other choice but rely on coal power for the time being. Granted, Xi Jinping has announced a couple months ago that his country's carbon emissions would begin to decline by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060 - maybe, probably.
But let's face it, economic growth remains a top priority for those countries (or any other country to that matter), and frankly, it's unfair to expect them to sacrifice it, especially if you're a former colonial superpower with a history of exploiting foreign nations, plundering resources and basically taking a crap all over the planet - as is the case with many of the Western power-brokers.
It's a delicate matter, and finding the balance between short to mid-term economic prosperity and the longer-term well-being of the human race has never been an easy thing. At least we've got steps being made in the right direction, like this one (let's hope today's decision won't just remain on paper, like on many such previous occasions, yet I remain cautiously optimistic in this regard). Such steps are going to put the necessary diplomatic and moral pressure on larger economies who are still refraining from joining the general trend, and they ought to ultimately bring them in line as well.
Let's be real here. Coal is just plain outdated.
Countries such as Poland, Vietnam and Chile, which rely heavily on coal - the single biggest contributor to global warming - are committing to move away from it. More than 40 countries have signed up to a statement to quit the use of the fossil fuel, and 190 nations and organisations have pledged to stop using it.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59155316
Now the bad news. The biggest contributors to coal production, coal consumption, and ultimately coal pollution, are not among those countries. You know who you are, cough China cough India cough US.
Sure, things aren't as simple as you might want them to be. For instance, emerging economies such as China (is it "emerging" any more? really?) might have no other choice but rely on coal power for the time being. Granted, Xi Jinping has announced a couple months ago that his country's carbon emissions would begin to decline by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060 - maybe, probably.
But let's face it, economic growth remains a top priority for those countries (or any other country to that matter), and frankly, it's unfair to expect them to sacrifice it, especially if you're a former colonial superpower with a history of exploiting foreign nations, plundering resources and basically taking a crap all over the planet - as is the case with many of the Western power-brokers.
It's a delicate matter, and finding the balance between short to mid-term economic prosperity and the longer-term well-being of the human race has never been an easy thing. At least we've got steps being made in the right direction, like this one (let's hope today's decision won't just remain on paper, like on many such previous occasions, yet I remain cautiously optimistic in this regard). Such steps are going to put the necessary diplomatic and moral pressure on larger economies who are still refraining from joining the general trend, and they ought to ultimately bring them in line as well.
Let's be real here. Coal is just plain outdated.
