117 Governments Triple Renewable Energy ‘To Save Planet’ (Worthy News In-Depth)
by Stefan Bos, Worthy News Correspondent
DUBAI, UAE (Worthy News) – At least 117 governments, many arriving on emissions-intensive-private jets, have agreed to triple the world’s capacity of renewable energy by 2030 and “double” the rate of “energy efficiency.”
Government leaders pledged at COP28, the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, where more than 70,000 delegates ponder how to save planet Earth from the impact of “climate change” or “global warming,” as both terms are used separately depending on the season.
Separately, 25 countries pledged to triple nuclear capacity by 2050 despite nations such as Europe’s largest economy, Germany, previously promising to close them.
Additionally, the United States was among several countries to join an alliance to phase out power plants that burn coal and announce rules to cut methane emissions.
Fifty oil and gas companies also signed a “decarbonization charter” that analysts criticized for “ignoring the emissions spewed” when customers burn the fuels.
Colombia, a significant fossil fuel producer, formally joined an alliance of nations calling for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to prevent the “omnicide of planet Earth.”
That was music to the ears of United Nations secretary-general António Guterres, who told delegates: “We are living through climate collapse in real-time.” He spoke at the launch of the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) stark State of the Climate report, which said 2023 will be the hottest year ever recorded.
WARMER WORLD?
Data up to the end of October allegedly showed 2023 was about 1.4C (2.5 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. “Greenhouse gas levels are record high. Global temperatures are record-high. Sea level rise is record high. Antarctic sea ice is record low. It’s a deafening cacophony of broken records,” said the WMO secretary-general, Professor Petteri Taalas.
“These are more than just statistics,” he said. “Extreme weather is destroying lives and livelihoods on a daily basis – underlining the imperative need to ensure that everyone is protected by early warning services. We cannot return to the climate of the 20th century, but we must act now to limit the risks of an increasingly inhospitable climate in this and coming centuries.”
The word “centuries” by the influential professor seemed to suggest a longer horizon than climate-change-worried experts and commentators had meant.
Several said previously that the earth was just years or perhaps decades away from catastrophe unless governments were acting now to tackle climate change by limiting the use of carbon dioxide (CO2)-emitting natural resources.
Therefore richer nations reached agreement on setting up a loss and damage fund to help countries “deal with the impacts of climate breakdown.”
The oil-rich United Arab Emirates (UAE) the host of COP28, immediately pledged $100 million to the fund, followed by contributions from the European Union, led by Germany, Britain, the United States and Japan.
Concerns about oil, natural gas, and coal were fired up by warnings that one in 12 hospitals worldwide is at risk “of total or partial shutdown” from extreme weather events without a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels.
HIGH RISK
Some 16,245 hospitals, twice as many as are currently regarded as “high risk,” will be in this category by the end of the century without a change in pace, according to a report released on Saturday by Cross Dependency Initiative (XDI), a climate risk analyst.
The group added that a residential or commercial building with this level of risk would be considered “uninsurable.” Yet, with 2100 still reasonably far away for most humans, government leaders arrived in private jets at the COP28 gathering.
For a journey from London to Dubai, private jet travel is 11 times more polluting than a commercial aircraft, 35 times more than a train, and 52 times more than coach travel (even after factoring in a flight from Istanbul, since there is no train or coach all the way to Dubai).
Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary David Cameron, and King Charles were just three of the more than 70,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries at COP28.
But they are among hundreds who will have traveled there by private jet. The three leaders even traveled in three separate planes, flight trackers noticed.
Critics called their use of private planes “unfair” and undermining talks about “climate justice.” Yet talking about climate justice can be dangerous in at least some countries: The authorities in Honduras have issued an arrest warrant for the alleged mastermind in the case of Berta Cáceres, the murdered Indigenous environmental leader, reported The Guardian newspaper around the opening of COP28.
Cáceres was reportedly shot in her home by hired hitmen in March 2016 in retaliation for leading a campaign to stop the construction of an internationally financed hydroelectric dam on a river considered “sacred” by the Lenca people. Cáceres was assassinated less than a year after being awarded the prestigious Goldman Prize for environmental defenders.
DANGEROUS REGION
Latin America is viewed as the most dangerous region in the world for those defending rivers, land, and other natural resources against what they view as “corporate greed,” pollution, and extractive industries like mining and energy projects.
Honduras, Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia are among the most deadly countries in Latin America, according to data. “Indigenous people, in particular, are on the frontlines of fighting environmental destruction and the climate crisis,” The Guardian commented.
It was unclear how COP28 would help the many indigenous people unable to pay for expensive flights to Dubai to make their case.
Also disturbing to those believing in human-caused climate change was the refusal by the two most powerful men to attend the climate gathering: Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping of the United States and China.
The leaders of the most carbon-polluting nations sent their deputies instead. Frail Pope Francis also didn’t attend the meeting, citing health issues.
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