Lisbon – AFP
US climate envoy John Kerry said in an interview with Agence France-Presse on the sidelines of a five-day United Nations conference on ocean health that opened Monday in Lisbon that preserving the oceans is “crucial” in the fight against climate change.
Since this conference is not a negotiating body, how will it feed discussions before the end of the year conferences on biodiversity and climate change?
The climate crisis cannot be resolved without addressing the oceans, which play a critical role in absorbing carbon dioxide. Ocean problems cannot be solved without dealing with the climate crisis because greenhouse gas emissions are causing ocean waters to warm and acidify. We discussed this issue during one of the sessions with a group of countries. All agreed on the importance of including oceans in the discussions in Sharm el-Sheikh (where COP27 will be held in November).
Sea freight accounts for about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, just over a billion tons of carbon dioxide, annually. The International Maritime Organization has set a target of reducing those emissions by 50% by 2050 from 2008 levels. Will that be enough?
both. We want this sector to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 at the latest, which includes aligned targets for 2030 and 2040 in order to achieve this. The next few months will be crucial.
The war in Ukraine saw an increase in LNG shipments. Is there no danger of a temporary energy solution becoming a permanent climate problem?
It will depend on the rules of the transition process. We are not in favor of building an LNG infrastructure for 20, 30, 40 years without being ready for green hydrogen and ammonia. The track to reach net zero emissions by 2050 must be maintained. This includes gas. So we have to be able to capture and store or use carbon.
This is the most important goal. In the run-up to the G7 summit (which was held this week in Germany), I saw language (in the draft final statement) that indicated in particular that any substitution of gas from Russia should remain within the climate goals set in Glasgow and Paris.
Nobody talks about deviating from it. Ukraine is not an excuse to suddenly depart from those goals and not honor the commitments that have been made. If we don’t cut emissions enough between 2020 and 2030, we won’t be able to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050. That’s simply the way it is.
A minister from a Caribbean country told us that in times of inflation and stagnation, climate is the last priority. Should we expect harsh conditions?
Yes, we are facing strong headwinds right now. But we must continue to focus on the basics. If the economic transformation gets the funding needed, and that’s what we’re working towards, that will create a lot of jobs, supply chains will improve and inflation can go down.
The climate crisis will not end. If you think tackling the climate crisis is costly, wait until you see tens of millions of people forced to relocate due to extreme heat, or a particular country whose food basket has been completely destroyed by drought. None of that will be easy.
The damage from the climate crisis will now worsen for centuries. This is the predicament we have placed ourselves in by escaping the necessity of relying on clean energy.