(ONE MINUTE READ)
TWO WEEKS OF NEGOTIATIONS AND ONCE AGAIN THE WORLD OF LEADERSHIPS SHOWS US ALL JUST HOW PATHETICALLY DIFFICULT IT IS FOR US TO ACT AS ONE.
For the 30 years this climate summit process has been going on there has been no formal recognition of the fact if we are going to avoid the most dangerous climate change we have to phase out our use of fossil fuels.
Instead of the phrase “phase out” the text tells countries to “transition away” from fossil fuels, beginning this decade. Transition away such as allowing a role for “transitional fuels” like gas.
The deal is not legally-binding.
It was probably never going to in a region or in a text dominated by fossil fuels – but it did pass, with some slight watering down.
Why couldn’t the meeting go one step further and promise to leave all fossil fuels in the ground?
Like it or not, fossil fuels are remarkably good at what they do.
Coal, demonised as it may be these days, isn’t just good at firing up power stations; it’s also nearly unbeatable (in its coked form) at helping you turn certain ores into metals.
We still rely on natural gas for most of the world’s nitrogen fertiliser production, without which half of the world would starve.
We still have yet to find a way of mass producing concrete without spewing a lot of carbon dioxide into the air.
And making plastics without oil is, as Lego learnt to its cost, tricky, to say the least.
Actions are more powerful than words. In modern times, this proverbial phrase is used to express empathetic compassion and a sense of good fortune realized by avoiding hardship.
Whether its Merry Christmas or Happy, it is the intent of the message that truly matters.
Let the light of Christmas be bright on green energy.
All return human wishes appreciated. All like clicks and abuse chucked in the bin.
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