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For the first time since nations began meeting three decades ago to tackle climate change, diplomats from nearly 200 countries agreed to a global pact that explicitly calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels” like oil, gas and coal that are dangerously heating the planet.
The sweeping agreement, which comes during the hottest year in recorded history, was reached on Wednesday after two weeks of furious debate at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. European leaders and many of the nations most vulnerable to climate-fueled extreme weather were urging language that called for a complete “phaseout” of fossil fuels. But that proposal faced intense pushback from major oil exporters like Saudi Arabia and Iraq as well as fast-growing countries like India and Nigeria.
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It’s called virtue signalling. None of these measures are binding, “net zero” is still a fallacy based on non-existent technology, and 1.5c will be exceeded within the next few years.
Better than nothing. We just need to hold them to account, to ensure they actually follow through on it now.
Saudis: We will transition away from fossil fuel when we run out of fossil fuels (tips forehead)
Unfortunately the idea of net neutral can definitely be twisted in a way that makes it worse than nothing.
By picking an easier target, and promising to hit it, you can make it look like righting the ship just a little bit will do the trick, when really a complete U-turn is required.
By focusing so much on what is being done, and over-blowing how effective it is, the fact that we’ve barely started is being overlooked. An example of this is stuff like the new apple watch being “carbon-neutral”, this will placate consumer guilt, allowing apple to sell and therefore produce more of them, even though producing less of them would objectively be better for the planet, no matter how “carbon-offset” they are. (Not to mention that apple only promised to offset one specific model, which I’m sure most consumers will conveniently overlook when they opt for a color they like better instead of the “environmentally friendly one”.) And it is a luxury product, we should be questioning whether the planet can afford to spare the expenses to fuel that industry right now, at all.
The same thing is happening politically. We are replacing action with feigned action, so we can keep going in mostly the same direction.
I agree, greenwashing is a real problem. Hence my point around holding these people to account. We all have a responsibility to ensure they cannot back out of these commitments, and it’s only with that kind of pressure we’ll see any meaningful change. Luckily we are starting to see that kind of sea change begin to happen.
That being said, I do believe that it is also important to foster positivity when it comes to climate change, to ensure we don’t drown out motivation with defeatism.
Thanks to the dedication and effort of the twelve-year-old Indian girl who unexpectedly burst into the event entirely unprepared
Oh yay! We agreed! Problem solved.
