Wednesday 13 December 2023

Climate deal on fossil fuels is great but.....

Of course the agreement to move away from fossil fuels altogether and focus on renewable energy is terrific progress, and the fact that it was the UAE's oil minister who managed and orchestrated the decision at the climate summit in Dubai makes it somehow more poignant. But there are so many buts. First of all, it's non-binding, and second it's "transitioning" away from, rather than abandoning for ever. So oil and gas and coal are going to be with us for some time, perhaps a long time. It's only noble words in a multi-nation-signed document. How many nations' leaders will go back to their capitals and start immediately "transitioning" from oil and gas and coal to wind and tidal and solar etc? I doubt any will. Rather, they will return with the good news that the world has made a big decision and then get on with anything and everything else, especially how to save their economies. Going renewable means a huge gigantic investment and industrial revolution and few countries, if any, can afford it right now. So great news but.....

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