A few days before the start of the Durban Climate Summit The Guardian exposes in an article the notable increase in coal consumption recorded in recent years. While in Durban an attempt will be made to negotiate an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, for which it is essential to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels such as coal, South Africa continues to depend 93% on this fuel to produce electricity. Another contrast highlighted by The Guardian in the article: China is the world leader in the production of wind turbines and solar panels, while last year it doubled its consumption of coal (80% of its electricity is generated with this fuel). Another reflection of the complex energy-climate change relationship.
NASA photograph taken on October 18 over the Rowley Shoals coral atolls. The high biological diversity of these formations and their possible medical applications in the form of new drugs, the support for fishing that they represent, as well as their tourist attraction and all the recreational and recreational activities derived from them, all of this could disappear in a few years.
While the International Energy Agency, on the occasion of the presentation of the World Energy Outlook 2011, warns of the irreversible effects of climate change in as little as five years, or island states raise their voices to call on the international community an ambitious climate agreement to avoid their physical disappearance, global emissions continue to rise steadily.
And as we see contradictions like these, the expectations placed on Durban are getting lower and lower. . The energy dependence of our development model is such that not only security of supply is imposed, but also ensuring the increase in consumption at almost any price.
Although, as Manu exposed in this same Athenaeum, the most alarmist discourse inherited from Al Gore may not have barely contributed to reinforcing international commitment, the enormous reserves that still remain, the increasingly sophisticated extraction methods, and hunger uncontainable energy will prevent us from seeing that a low carbon future can be much more prosperous.
Related entries:
100 proposals from the Mixed Commission on Climate Change, although they are late…
Energy Roadmap 2050 of the European Union and other zero-carbon proposals