2023-07-22 16:59:00
Meeting in Goa, India, the energy ministers of the G20 countries failed to reach a consensus on the gradual reduction in the use of fossil fuels to produce electricity. While they had planned to communicate a common position on the subject at the end of this four-day meeting, they gave up due to disagreements. In particular on the tripling of renewable energy capacities by 2030. Result: their final declaration does not even mention coal, yet one of the big contributors to global warming. Problem: it is still one of the main sources of energy for many developing economies including India, the most populous country in the world, or China, the world’s second largest economy.
This failure to agree comes despite the will expressed in May in Hiroshima by the leaders of the G7 to “” accelerate ” their ” ” sortie of fossil fuels, and as global temperatures reach record highs, causing heat waves, floods and fires.
Two positions
To explain this impasse, India, which chairs the G20, explained that some of the members wanted a reduction in fossil fuels ” unabated “, that is to say not backed by carbon capture or storage devices, “ conform to different national circumstances “. On the other hand, of “ others have a different opinion on whether carbon capture and storage technologies meet these needs ».
A draft document seen by Archyde.com on Friday evening said: the importance of making efforts to phase out fossil fuels without a carbon capture system, in accordance with different national circumstances “. Finally, the declaration was modified and reflects the doubts of certain countries that technologies of capture and elimination of carbon can answer the concerns related to the use of fossil fuels.
France calls for an emergency exit from fossil fuels
A coalition of eighteen countries, including France and Germany, led by the Marshall Islands, calls for ” an urgent exit from fossil fuels » et « a peak in greenhouse gases by 2025 », estimating that « humanity cannot afford to wait “. This group of countries is calling for a 43% reduction in global emissions by 2030 compared to 2019, in order to respect the limit of 1.5°C in temperature rise by the end of the century compared to the pre-industrial era, in accordance with calculations by United Nations climate experts. Compared to the pre-industrial era, the world is now experiencing warming close to 1.2°C as a result of human activity, mainly the use of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas).
But many developing countries believe that the rich countries, the biggest polluters, must finance the energy transition more. This is the case of India in particular, which has set itself a goal of net zero emissions for 2070, 20 years later than many other countries. A report preparing India’s presidency of the G20 calculated the cost of the energy transition at 4 trillion dollars per year and underlined the importance of low-cost financing for technology transfers and developing countries, a recurring request from New Delhi.
Some big oil producers are also reluctant to exit fossil fuels quickly. Ed King, of the climate communication network GSCC, blamed Russia and Saudi Arabia in particular for the lack of progress in the negotiations on Saturday. These countries have blocked efforts for a clean energy tripling deal aimed at cutting fossil fuels “, he lamented on Twitter.
The CEO of UAE oil company Adnoc, Sultan Al Jaber, who will chair the COP28 negotiations, said he expects fossil fuels to continue to play a role, albeit small, with the controversial help of carbon capture or storage devices. He felt, however, that their reduction was “ inevitable » et « essential », but that realism forbade doing without it overnight.
G20 countries also rejected measures urging developed countries to jointly mobilize $100 billion a year for climate action in developing countries for 2020-2025.
(With AFP and Archyde.com)
Heat wave lasting 16 to 17 days in Greece, mercury on the rise in the United States
Greece lives probably the longest heat wave ever recorded in its history with temperatures expected above 44°C this weekend, while the record heat wave hitting the southern United States is likely to progress across this country.
“We are likely to experience a 16-17 day heat wave, which has never happened before in our country,” Kostas Lagouvardos, the research director at the Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development of the National Observatory in Athens, told ERT television.
In Greece, all archaeological sites will continue to keep their doors closed during the hottest hours. Tourists will only be allowed to enter Athens’ famous Acropolis until 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
“We need absolute vigilance (…) because the difficult times are not over,” warned Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
« We are facing a new heat wave” and “a possible strengthening of the winds which have already been stoking several fires around the capital since Monday, he added.
In 24 hours, 46 new fires broke out in the country, according to firefighters. On the tourist island of Rhodes, where a forest fire has been raging for five days, more than 20 boats took part on Saturday in an evacuation operation of more than 1,500 people. On the surface of the sea, the mercury was 2 to 3°C above normal, the meteorological services announced on Saturday. Temperatures of up to 45°C are expected for Sunday in the region of Thessaly (center).
Mercury rising in the United States
In the United States, regarding 80 million people will experience temperatures of 41 ° C and more this weekend, alert the American meteorological services (NWS). They might rise to more than 46°C in Phoenix, Arizona (southwest), which is currently experiencing its longest heat wave on record: Friday, the mercury exceeded 43°C for the 22nd day in a row.
500 km away, in California, Death Valley and its highest temperatures on the planet attract tourists, the latter wanting to take their picture alongside a screen displaying ever more extreme temperatures. Some are waiting for the absolute record on Earth – 56.6°C recorded at this place in 1913 -, disputed by some experts, to be beaten. A 71-year-old man died there earlier this week and Death Valley National Park rangers suspect that “ the heat played a role in his passing, which would make it the second of the year under these circumstances.
For the rest of July, the heat wave should move towards the center of the United States, on the side of the Rockies and the great plains of the Midwest, according to the American Agency for Oceanic and Atmospheric Observation (NOAA).
In Canada, on the other hand, torrential rains fell on the province of Nova Scotia (east), transforming the roads into torrents. Some 20,000 customers of electricity supplier Nova Scotia Power were still without power by mid-morning Saturday.
July is on track to break the record for the hottest month ever recorded on Earth, not only since measurements were taken but also for ” hundreds, if not thousands of years Nasa chief climatologist Gavin Schmidt told reporters. This is not just due to El Niño, the cyclic weather phenomenon that originates in the Pacific Ocean and causes global temperatures to rise, he said. For this specialist, extreme temperatures will persist because “we continue to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere”.
(AFP)
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