Released November 17, 2021 | SUGAR LAND
en
Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In searching for a top-line summary for the recently concluded U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, one is tempted to reach for a line in Macbeth made more famous by William Faulkner: "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Much to the disappointment of climate activists, climate scientists, delegates to the event, and not a few businesses, banks and insurance firms, the 26th meeting of the U.N. Conference of the Parties (COP26) event did not produce a plan to rapidly and dramatically fight climate change. Despite the climate-worsened extreme weather and natural disasters that preceded COP26, there were no unilateral pledges to end the burning of coal. China still is building an estimated 150 coal-fired generators, and developing about 250 more. India is not far behind. China continues to mine enormous amounts of coal, as does India, the U.S., Indonesia and Australia. When presented with the opportunity to take concrete steps to phase out coal, the best the 190 national representatives could do was agree to "phase down" global coal use. Political leaders in Australia vowed to ramp up coal production, defying the delegates in Glasgow.
The two-week event featured speeches -- occasionally impassioned -- from world leaders such as U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. U.N. leaders, sustainability experts, business leaders and climate activists also addressed the event. For more on remarks made at the event, see November 9, 2021, article - COP26: United Nations Warns 'We are Heading for Climate Disaster'.
Coal use is not the only contributor to climate change, but little was said at the summit about the other main contributor -- cars and trucks that burn hydrocarbons in internal combustion engines (ICE). Although many of the world's largest automakers have vowed to stop producing ICE-powered vehicles in favor of vehicles powered by batteries, most have chosen 2030 or later to make the switch. Climate activists say that's too late to stop a potentially catastrophic warming of the planet, which many scientists agree is causing, or making worse, extreme weather and natural disasters.
The same challenge -- lack of a binding enforcement mechanism -- that hampered the just-concluded summit has also limited previous multilateral attempts to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, such as the Paris Agreement of 2015. Governments were asked to strengthen their emissions reduction targets by the end of 2022 to limit global temperature gain to under 2 degrees Celsius (C), ideally closer to 1.5 degrees C. The world already has warmed more than 1 degree C since pre-industrial times.
Many organizations, including the International Energy Agency (IEA) (Paris, France) and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (Geneva, Switzerland) have warned that time is running out to halt and reverse the continued warming of the planet. Commenting on the IPCC's August 2021 report, "Climate Change: Widespread, Rapid, and Intensifying," U.N. Secretary General António Guterres called the findings "a code red for humanity." Earlier this year, the IEA issued a report, "Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector," that detailed multitrillion-dollar changes that needed to be implemented around the world to halt and reverse global warming. Many analysts felt the prescriptions were unrealistic. For more on that, see May 24, 2021, article - IIR Energy Analysts Question Feasibility of IEA Roadmap to Net-Zero Emissions.
A closer review of COP26 suggests progress, albeit incremental, was made at the summit. China agreed to offer a climate action plan next year. Investors, insurance companies and financial institutions with $130 trillion of assets under management reportedly pledged to make investment decisions with an eye to decarbonization and sustainability. Developed nations promised to fulfil their prior pledge of $100 billion per year to help developing nations with their energy transition, though those nations sought $1.3 trillion per year. A broad framework for carbon trading was adopted, though it was less detailed than what some delegates wanted.
The resolutions adopted at COP26 come after months of increasingly dire warnings on climate change. Prior to the conference, the U.N. said current energy plans would allow greenhouse gas emissions to rise 13% by 2030 compared to a 2010 baseline. Scientists said a 45% cut is needed to meet the 1.5 degree C target. For more on that, see October 21, 2021, article -- U.N. Report: Planned Hydrocarbon Production Will Heat Up Planet. In a report issued before the conference, the IEA sounded similar warnings. For more on that, see October 14, 2021, article - IEA Warns of Complacency, Return to Business as Usual in Latest Report.
Those seeking to be charitable about what was accomplished over two weeks in Glasgow said, in effect: Good, but not enough, more action is needed, and it must come faster. In a video after the event, the U.N. secretary general said, "We must end fossil fuel subsidies, phase out coal, put a price on carbon, protect vulnerable communities from the impacts of climate change and make good on the $100 billion climate finance commitment to support developing countries. We did not achieve these goals at this conference, but we have some building blocks for progress."
Others did not take that "glass-half-full" approach of the secretary general. The Washington Post quoted Jeffrey Sachs, an economist and climate expert at Columbia University, as saying, "COP26 was a failure, and the main failure was on financing. The rich countries couldn't even come up with the meager $100 billion per year after 12 years of promising, and that with a world economy that is now $100 trillion per year."
But even harsher assessments were made. An editorial columnist for The Wall Street Journal, dismissing the conference as a "sham," wrote: "If there is one thing the world should take away from the Glasgow COP26 summit, it's that the most dangerous greenhouse-gas emissions come from the front ends of politicians, not the back ends of cows. Pandering is much more dangerous to human civilization than methane, strategic incompetence a graver threat than CO2; and dysfunctional establishment groupthink will likely kill more polar bears than all the hydrofluorocarbons in the world."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn.
Much to the disappointment of climate activists, climate scientists, delegates to the event, and not a few businesses, banks and insurance firms, the 26th meeting of the U.N. Conference of the Parties (COP26) event did not produce a plan to rapidly and dramatically fight climate change. Despite the climate-worsened extreme weather and natural disasters that preceded COP26, there were no unilateral pledges to end the burning of coal. China still is building an estimated 150 coal-fired generators, and developing about 250 more. India is not far behind. China continues to mine enormous amounts of coal, as does India, the U.S., Indonesia and Australia. When presented with the opportunity to take concrete steps to phase out coal, the best the 190 national representatives could do was agree to "phase down" global coal use. Political leaders in Australia vowed to ramp up coal production, defying the delegates in Glasgow.
The two-week event featured speeches -- occasionally impassioned -- from world leaders such as U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. U.N. leaders, sustainability experts, business leaders and climate activists also addressed the event. For more on remarks made at the event, see November 9, 2021, article - COP26: United Nations Warns 'We are Heading for Climate Disaster'.
Coal use is not the only contributor to climate change, but little was said at the summit about the other main contributor -- cars and trucks that burn hydrocarbons in internal combustion engines (ICE). Although many of the world's largest automakers have vowed to stop producing ICE-powered vehicles in favor of vehicles powered by batteries, most have chosen 2030 or later to make the switch. Climate activists say that's too late to stop a potentially catastrophic warming of the planet, which many scientists agree is causing, or making worse, extreme weather and natural disasters.
The same challenge -- lack of a binding enforcement mechanism -- that hampered the just-concluded summit has also limited previous multilateral attempts to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, such as the Paris Agreement of 2015. Governments were asked to strengthen their emissions reduction targets by the end of 2022 to limit global temperature gain to under 2 degrees Celsius (C), ideally closer to 1.5 degrees C. The world already has warmed more than 1 degree C since pre-industrial times.
Many organizations, including the International Energy Agency (IEA) (Paris, France) and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (Geneva, Switzerland) have warned that time is running out to halt and reverse the continued warming of the planet. Commenting on the IPCC's August 2021 report, "Climate Change: Widespread, Rapid, and Intensifying," U.N. Secretary General António Guterres called the findings "a code red for humanity." Earlier this year, the IEA issued a report, "Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector," that detailed multitrillion-dollar changes that needed to be implemented around the world to halt and reverse global warming. Many analysts felt the prescriptions were unrealistic. For more on that, see May 24, 2021, article - IIR Energy Analysts Question Feasibility of IEA Roadmap to Net-Zero Emissions.
A closer review of COP26 suggests progress, albeit incremental, was made at the summit. China agreed to offer a climate action plan next year. Investors, insurance companies and financial institutions with $130 trillion of assets under management reportedly pledged to make investment decisions with an eye to decarbonization and sustainability. Developed nations promised to fulfil their prior pledge of $100 billion per year to help developing nations with their energy transition, though those nations sought $1.3 trillion per year. A broad framework for carbon trading was adopted, though it was less detailed than what some delegates wanted.
The resolutions adopted at COP26 come after months of increasingly dire warnings on climate change. Prior to the conference, the U.N. said current energy plans would allow greenhouse gas emissions to rise 13% by 2030 compared to a 2010 baseline. Scientists said a 45% cut is needed to meet the 1.5 degree C target. For more on that, see October 21, 2021, article -- U.N. Report: Planned Hydrocarbon Production Will Heat Up Planet. In a report issued before the conference, the IEA sounded similar warnings. For more on that, see October 14, 2021, article - IEA Warns of Complacency, Return to Business as Usual in Latest Report.
Those seeking to be charitable about what was accomplished over two weeks in Glasgow said, in effect: Good, but not enough, more action is needed, and it must come faster. In a video after the event, the U.N. secretary general said, "We must end fossil fuel subsidies, phase out coal, put a price on carbon, protect vulnerable communities from the impacts of climate change and make good on the $100 billion climate finance commitment to support developing countries. We did not achieve these goals at this conference, but we have some building blocks for progress."
Others did not take that "glass-half-full" approach of the secretary general. The Washington Post quoted Jeffrey Sachs, an economist and climate expert at Columbia University, as saying, "COP26 was a failure, and the main failure was on financing. The rich countries couldn't even come up with the meager $100 billion per year after 12 years of promising, and that with a world economy that is now $100 trillion per year."
But even harsher assessments were made. An editorial columnist for The Wall Street Journal, dismissing the conference as a "sham," wrote: "If there is one thing the world should take away from the Glasgow COP26 summit, it's that the most dangerous greenhouse-gas emissions come from the front ends of politicians, not the back ends of cows. Pandering is much more dangerous to human civilization than methane, strategic incompetence a graver threat than CO2; and dysfunctional establishment groupthink will likely kill more polar bears than all the hydrofluorocarbons in the world."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn.
