Talk by Christiana Figueres May 18, interviewed by Damian Carrington, Guardian Environment Editor
https://profilesofparis.com/profiles/ People who took part in Paris, speaking about collaboration
http://www.mission2020.global/
CF was resolutely optimistic! And she said she was proud of her stubbornness. She is certainly a very charismatic speaker. ‘We can’t afford to be paralysed by climate change. We have to start with optimism and not pessimism. We have to use our science and technology to bring about the changes we need.’ The evening was a question and answer session first from the interviewer (45 mins) and then from attendees (45 mins). Each paragraph below is a summary of CF’s answers.
1 June was first anniversary of the US announcement that it plans to leave the Paris Agreement. CF gave us a visual of a three lane road with countries moving down it at slow, medium and fast speeds towards their Paris climate goals. She said the US had pulled over onto the hard shoulder but everyone else was still moving. Trump is confrontational but what the world needs is collaboration.
She said we have already exceeded planetary boundaries so we can’t accept zero-sum games, we will all win or lose together. Religious leaders have joined the Profiles of Paris project, they understand this is a moral issue.
She said the moral imperative was the base for action on climate change, then followed by economic, technological and financial imperatives. In answer to ‘what is going well’ she said energy (increase in renewables), cars (move to electric) especially in developing markets like India (all electric by 2030). I am dubious about this because the rare minerals needed for batteries at the moment are in short supply and unless battery innovation has a real breakthrough, and recycling gets better, we are likely to run out of raw materials.
The interviewer mentioned the recent article in The Guardian about livestock producing 20% of calories using 82% of land mass, carbon and fresh water. CF responded – land degradation is already leading to migration – so restoration of soils is very important; restoration and preservation of forests is very important, cattle raising needs to be reduced. In the hall, a straw poll showed a shift to vegetarianism in Guardian readers. And CF predicted that in 20 years, people would be really shocked that we ever ate animals. She voiced concerns that developing countries tended to eat more meat and use more energy so she said it was really important that the developed countries helped them to leapfrog directly to renewables and lower meat consumption. It will be a real problem if they follow the history of the West.
Population – a cause of our problems? CF thought not, we need to use resources better and move to a cyclic economy (reuse and recycling) and a culture of sharing. Population is predicted to level out at 9 million. Also we can’t stop people having children and we can’t maintain the current level of per person extraction. Mission 2020 (see link at top) is a call to action so that global CO2 release levels out by 2020 and starts dropping AND we reach net zero carbon emissions (this is where the planet can absorb all emissions) by 2050. This means reducing CO2 output by 50% every decade! We do this by changing land use, using renewables and heavy industry using R&D to find lower carbon energy sources.
CCS (Carbon capture and storage) – can it help? CF said we can’t wait for the perfect solution eg storage underground. Instead we need to use biological means: reforesting, improving soils by burying carbon etc. 2020 is when all the countries involved in Paris must come back with their improved plans and commitments. The next COP will be held in Poland and CF thinks it is a good thing because the venue is in a coal mining area which will bring coal use into sharp focus. Also she thought Poland had been good host of COP in the past. And one of the really difficult things about moving away from coal is just translation for workers – all those people currently working in coal need to be helped to move to renewable energy work.
Helping developing counties de-carbon their energy supplies – CF thinks they are already aware and wanting to develop their own native renewables (wind, solar etc) because of the cost of importing fossil fuels. However they have scarce resources so it is hard for them to adapt. The West must step up to their historical responsibility and share renewable technology and provide financial support.
Next climate deal? CF doesn’t think there will be one because Paris incorporates a stepwise approach with all signatories upping their game every five years. It is voluntary now and she acknowledged it might need something more prescriptive one day. But Kyoto which did have a penalty system failed because rather than wait to be fined, countries breaching their limits like Canada, just left the agreement….
Is it the responsibility of governments or civil society? CF thinks it’s everyone’s responsibility. So we all need to act, to vote on change and governments, investors, companies etc all need to act.
How to get global media involved? Eg during Bonn COP, The Guardian had a half page article on the conference and then 20+ pages on foreign holidays and flights…! Carrington (the interviewer) tried to weasel out of that one saying that advertising is separate from editorial. CF talked about the danger of bubbles in social media and the importance of reading things you don’t agree with just so you know what others are thinking or being told.
Water – CF said this is a global issue that needs global solutions. It affects everyone – either too much water or too little. The process of collaboration is very important, with all parties listening and trying to find a way forward – rather than going to war…. There is a Global Climate Action Summit taking place this September in California where many solutions will be displayed so that federal governments can raise their ambitions.
The intersectionality of gender and climate change? CF was very keen to relate how the gender balance of collaborators had changed over 20 years (see the Paris Profiles website) and she did think that the skills that women brought have raised the level of collaboration.
The role of business? CF thinks many big corporations are already aware of how decarbonising their industries is an imperative and are already acting to reduce their carbon footprints. And many are inviting those in their value chains (I think she meant suppliers and sellers) to take part too.
CF acknowledged that we aren’t moving fast enough yet. She told us that air travel and maritime industries produce 5% of global carbon output and they are not part of the global convention. But some moves are being made like the IMO agreeing to reduce the carbon footprint of the global maritime fleet by 50% by 2050 – and hopefully they will move faster than that. She was very inspired by the PV powered flight (one person in one plane…) around the world and thinks that the use of biofuels will help aircraft and ships decarbonise (personally I think this is rubbish because studies have already shown that to produce enough biofuel for this to happen would mean using farm land – so we starve but still are able to fly…..?)
Is it a financial problem? CF thinks it is not finance per se, all project need finance. It is what is being financed. Investment has to move away from drilling for new fossil fuels (campaigns are helping to push this). Insurers are beginning to refuse to insure fossil fuel companies and this will have a big impact in their long term survival. The World Bank and other global investors are beginning to move away from funding high carbon projects – but more need to happen faster.
Energy waste? CF sees this as where we can all get involved. We can change our personal behavior; AI will aid the optimisation of demand and generation: smart grids and using home and car batteries to support the grid. She thinks we will be using 100% renewables in the next 5 to 10 years (!). The Paris Agreement aids accountability because all countries have to report their annual emissions and there is independent verification of these figures. BUT no compliance police – do we embarrass countries into doing better? She thinks it is better to help countries to see it is in their own interest to change their behaviors.
skylarkflying 