As the world grapples with the escalating threat of climate change it’s shocking to note that our governments seem to be getting their priorities backwards. Instead of focusing on the future and the well-being of the planet, they’re mired in short-term thinking and misguided investments. It appears to me that 80% of their time and resources are devoted to addressing present-day concerns, while a mere 20% is dedicated to envisioning and shaping a sustainable future. This myopic approach has led to a fixation on market forces over Nature’s forces, with disastrous consequences.
I think this because rather than investing in renewable energy solutions like wind turbines and heat pumps and vital public services like healthcare, our governments are squandering billions on weapons and white-elephant projects like Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Unfortunately this misguided allocation of resources not only perpetuates our reliance on fossil fuels, it also accelerates the climate crisis. It’s time for our governments to wake up, reassess their priorities, and join the fight against climate change with the urgency and dedication it demands.
So let’s explore the consequences of our governments’ misguided priorities and argue for a radical shift in how we approach the climate crisis. The future of our planet depends on it.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in March 2023 finalized the Synthesis Report for the Sixth Assessment Report. This report issued a warning and a challenge.
- The warning: The pace and scale of climate action are insufficient to tackle climate
- The challenge: Cut global GHG emissions by nearly half by 2030. To do this we need political commitment, inclusive governance, international cooperation, effective ecosystem stewardship and a sharing of diverse knowledge.
The report stated there is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all, and the choices and actions implemented in the next 6 years will have impacts now and will reverberate for hundreds, even thousands, of years. *
The full report of 2042 pages is available here. **
The World Resources Institute said this assessment report is the final instalment of an eight-year long undertaking from the world’s most authoritative scientific body on climate change. It draws on the findings of 782 scientists and provides the most comprehensive, best available scientific assessment of climate change. The report makes for grim reading and makes clear that risks of inaction on climate are immense and the way ahead requires change at a scale not seen before. Unless there are immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, limiting global warming to 1.5°C will be beyond reach.***
We need to see a radical shift because our fixation on present-day concerns and market forces have blinded us and hypnotized us. The corporate greed of the business world wants us to live to buy, and work to buy, and live to pay with credit. It wants to keep us distracted by the latest consumer trends and technological gadgets. It wants this to continue to be our focus and our purpose, because this keeps the status quo going and their profits growing.
Meanwhile, the urgent need for systematic change and the transition to a more equitable and sustainable future is ignored or relegated to the fringes of conversation. Therefore, it’s time to break free from this collective trance and awaken to the reality that our present course is unsustainable. This
is the radical shift we need, yet it is not radical thinking – it is now main-steam thinking. Even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is telling us this.
To fight climate change successfully COP28 concluded with an urgent message emphasizing the need for a radical shift. It said we need a rapid and systematic transition away from fossil fuels, primarily coal, oil, and gas, to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
This transition away from fossil fuels has been defined by the IPCC as a comprehensive energy system transformation, involving:
- Rapidly increasing renewable energy sources (solar, wind, hydro )
- Phasing out unabated fossil fuel (Unabated fossil fuel use refers to the continued extraction, production, and combustion of fossils fuels (coal, oil and gas)
- Improving energy efficiency (with heat pumps and many other measures)
- Electrifying transportation, industry, and buildings
- Protecting and restoring natural carbon sinks (forests, wetlands, )
- Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) for residual
Residual emissions are the “hard-to-abate” emissions that remain after implementing all feasible reduction measures. These emissions often come from: Industrial processes like cement production and steel manufacturing, transportation modes like aviation and shipping, agricultural activities like livestock and rice cultivation, and fossil fuel-based power generation.
CCS technologies aim to reduce these residual emissions that are difficult to eliminate through other means, however unfortunately they themselves are fraught with difficulty. They are slow to develop, and their deployment is hindered by complex engineering and infrastructure, high costs, technical challenges, a lack of storage facilities, a lack of clear policies, plus they require energy to operate, which can reduce the overall efficiency of power plants and industrial processes. In short, there is a lack of evidence on the efficacy of this approach and its consistency with the world’s net-zero commitments.
Although the IPCC includes this reference as part of the transition away from fossil fuels, CCS is a solution we should not put our hopes on. Relying on widespread carbon capture deployment, even if it could work, would take a too long, and be largely responsible for delaying decisive action now to accelerate the urgently needed energy transition to renewable energies.
Yet the oil and gas industry wants our governments, and us, to believe it can capture its emissions and keep drilling as usual. That’s no way to avert climate chaos. This talk about CCS as being a solution is largely a smoke and mirrors campaign. Overemphasizing and exaggerating its potential is creating unrealistic expectations and delaying action on other solutions. It is a dangerous distraction. It extends the fossil fuel era instead of ending it.
Considering the above, why then on May 7, 2024, did Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson defend carbon capture and storage technology as both effective and affordable when its track record and promise is so poor?
It’s deeply concerning that our government’s enthusiasm for carbon capture technology coincides with the oil and gas industry’s vigorous lobbying efforts to promote this very solution. The revolving door between industry executives and government regulators, coupled with the millions spent on lobbying campaigns, raises serious concerns about the influence of fossil fuel interests on our climate policy. It appears that the government is more interested in protecting the profits of polluters than in protecting the planet. By prioritizing carbon capture over proven solutions, the government is essentially subsidizing the oil and gas industry’s attempts to maintain business as usual, rather that driving the systematic change needed to address climate change.
In Canada pivotal elections are looming that will determine the political landscape for the remainder of the decade. In those upcoming elections does the guidance of the IPPC, the UNFCCC, COP, the WRI, the NOAA, the EEA, the IEA, the WWF, the WHO, the EDF, the OEB, NRC plus other groups and world scientists matter? (see list ****) Saying yes, and then ignoring that guidance like Premier Doug Ford did when he overturned a wise decision by the Ontario Energy Board to continue his love affair with Enbridge Gas, undermines public trust, fosters confusion, sows division, amplifies cynicism, threatens the future of the planet and destroys hope for humanity.
When our governments ignore such an abundance of wise guidance, and instead listen to wealthy and powerful lobbyists, it produces a crisis of priorities. This is what is happening now. As a result, our leaders are failing the climate test, they are failing us, and they are failing the next generation. That is why we need to see a radical shift now and that is why our looming elections are so important.
On December 31, we will have only 60 months remaining until the year 2030. To have a chance to cut the world’s emissions in half in that short time our governments need to address their crisis of priorities now. At this time, the most important thing we citizens can do to help fight climate change is vote for who will.
* https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_SPM.pdf
** https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_FullReport.pdf
*** https://www.wri.org/insights/2023-ipcc-ar6-synthesis-report-climate-change-findings
**** IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
UNFCCC (the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change
COP (the annual Conference of the Parties climate summit organized by the UNFCCC) WRI (the World Resources Institute)
NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration EEA (the European Environmental Agency)
IEA (the International Energy Agency) WWF (the World Wildlife Fund) WHO (the World Health Organization)
EDF (the Environmental Defence Fund) OEB (the Ontario Energy Board)
NRC (Natural Resources Canada)
Robert Hicks is a member of the Education Committee of Seniors for Climate Action Now (SCAN!).
If you found this blog post interesting and informative, please consider joining the Education Committee and helping with our work. We also welcome comments and feedback. Please contact Sue Craig at susan.craig@sympatico.ca