Climate Change Urgency
The Climate Is In Crisis.
Providing Solutions Creates Opportunities.
Scientific studies have demonstrated that our human family is poised on the cusp of global climate-change disaster.
Previous climate change denialism, disinformation, and obstructionism is now being exposed by daily reports of global warming events tied to economic, environmental, public health, and social emergencies.
The resulting population displacements
cannot be ignored or dismissed.
“Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere have occurred. Human-caused climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. This has led to widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people. Vulnerable communities who have historically contributed the least to current climate change are disproportionately affected.”
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), United Nations
2023 Synthesis Report, Summary for Policymakers
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_SPM.pdf IPCC, 2023: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, H. Lee and J. Romero (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, pp. 1-34, doi: 10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647.001. Section A.2, p.5.
“Methane is responsible for around 30% of the rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution, and rapid and sustained reductions in methane emissions are key to limiting near-term global warming and improving air quality.”
Global Methane Tracker 2022
The World Economic Forum (WEF), Analysis: Global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels hits record high in 2022, Global Methane Tracker 2022
https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/bulletin/annual-global-carbon-budget Global Methane Tracker 2022
“The remaining carbon budget keeping warming below 1.5° C will be gone in nine years, if emissions remain at current levels.”…
“Global CO2 concentrations set a new record of 417.2 parts per million (ppm), up 2.5ppm from 2021 levels.
Atmospheric CO2 concentrations are now 51% above pre-industrial levels.”
op cit, WEF, Global Methane Tracker 2022
https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/bulletin/annual-global-carbon-budget Global Methane Tracker 2022
The carbon pollution problem driving CO2 emissions is illustrated by the following chart
showing the flux of CO2 in production and being taken up into atmosphere, oceans, and land:
Sources:
https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/bulletin/annual-global-carbon-budget
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-022-00285-w Monitoring global carbon emissions in 2021
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03883-8 Estimating a social cost of carbon for global energy consumption
The need for a transition to clean energy is fully in the public’s awareness. The global community is increasingly aware that continued degradation of land, ocean, and atmospheric resources is inevitable if we continue to burn carbon into the atmosphere.
However, the ongoing dependency on burning fossil fuels is illustrated in the following chart of global energy consumption.
- The transition to renewable, clean energy is not at a rate to stop global warming before climate catastrophe occurs.
- Each year we need the equivalent of 7.1 billion metric tons of clean, non-polluting, renewable energy that is economically sustainable to meet global energy needs.
- The current energy consumption is still 80% dependent on burning fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal).
- Any partial solution that does not deal with these indisputable facts will be Too Little, Too Late!
In the US and globally, attention is growing on the development of funding mechanisms to meet this global crisis.
The November 2021 US Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and the 2022 US Inflation Reduction Act committed unprecedented funds into climate change mitigation and adaptation (although even more is needed).
The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) is a global coalition of leading financial institutions committed to accelerating the decarbonization of the economy.
Green bonds and ESG (environment / social / governance) instruments provide opportunities for public-private partnerships that can add momentum to climate-positive enterprises such as Hydrogen-Carbon Ventures.
The Big Idea
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