By John Pinel
IT’S December, in the hottest year ever recorded on planet Earth since our records began. The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change is being held in Dubai, capital of the oil state of the United Arab Emirates. Almost 200 member countries are attending to discuss measures which could preserve the earth’s climate in a condition which can support modern, technological civilisation. They may also commit funds to support those countries most affected by climate change, but they might not and they certainly won’t commit nearly enough.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is demonstrating his commitment to tackling climate change by flying there in a private jet, while his Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, is flying there in a different private jet. King Charles, who will be making the opening speech on how the rest of us should behave to reduce their carbon footprints, is flying there in yet another private jet.
There has been some criticism that our Chief and Environment Ministers are attending the meeting. I think that it is important they attend. Jersey alone will make little difference, but together with the hundreds of other small island states who are facing the same challenges, we can unite and make a significant contribution to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Hopefully they travelled in economy class.
Aside from poor travel decisions, the conference was not off to a good start. The chairman of COP28 is Sultan Al Jaber, who is also the head of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc). One of the world’s largest energy companies, Adnoc’s business plan is to increase oil production over the coming years.
Mr Jaber has been accused of using his position to sell more oil investment to a wide range of countries involved in the meeting. He is also commenting that phasing out oil will be a disaster for humanity. It may be disastrous for his income, but we desperately need to transition away from fossil-fuel use as quickly as possible.
His abuse of authority underlines the power that fossil-fuel companies hold over society. The massive profiteering they have undertaken in recent years on the back of soaring fuel costs due to the war in Ukraine and other global disasters is mainly reinvested in fossil fuel production. The International Energy Authority reports that only a fraction of those profits are being invested in clean technologies. The recent huge increase in investment in (relatively) clean energy (mainly solar and wind) is made by other companies outside of the fossil-fuel industry.
Fossil-fuel profits also fund political lobbying and public misinformation campaigns which constrain action to reduce our reliance on coal, oil and gas, while enabling the development of more, climate-destroying, oil and coal fields.
The fossil-fuel industry and its supporters have successfully maintained the fallacy that there is a secret cabal of scientists who operate worldwide, in a wide range of specialisms who perpetuate the myth of climate change in order to maintain their extravagant lifestyles as low-paid researchers, earning the princely sum of a normal, average working wage.
It is my opinion that when billionaires are blaming immigrants; the unemployed; disabled people and scientists for the planet’s woes, then we should look a little closer at their motivation for creating this victim shaming.
The fossil-fuel industry is essential to the move towards a low-carbon future, it has the funds and the skills for research and investment, but for the past 50 years it has demonstrated that it won’t do it voluntarily. We need to rapidly move away from a fossil-fuel-based economy to a circular, renewable and sustainable economy. We can all play a part in forcing that change in government policy and in industrial practice.
Climate change won’t hit us as a single, catastrophic event, it will play out slowly over many years and unless we act, will gradually turn our beautiful planet into a place where we will struggle to survive. Our food is gradually, but steadily, increasing in cost and countries the world over will soon struggle to provide water and energy for their residents. And the pace of climate change is frighteningly accelerating.
Earlier this year I attended carbon literacy training with the Government of Jersey’s ecoactive team. This training is based on a UK programme which aims to educate business people who can take what they’ve learnt back to their companies in order to implement change. These changes may feed back into investment strategies and other actions and provide ways to reduce or offset their own emissions. They are often cost-saving initiatives.
The carbon literacy training is accredited and a support network helps industry to implement best practice learnt from the many companies worldwide who are already moving towards a more sustainable future.
There is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, but only if we all take steps to be part of the solution.
If you haven’t yet written to Rishi Sunak to complain about the new licences for fossil-fuel exploration which his government have given out to climate-wrecking industries, or to plead with him to implement change at COP28, you could do worse than contacting ecoactive to ask about sending yourself or a member of your team on the carbon literacy training programme: E.Active@gov.je.
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John Pinel is a freelance ecologist. In the past, he has travelled widely, covering thousands of miles by bicycle but also building his own carbon footprint with international travel. He has had many jobs, from finance to pizza chef, including over 20 years in various environmental roles, the last ten as principal ecologist for the Environment Department. He is now active in a number of local and international non-governmental organisations and campaigns for social and environmental justice. All opinions expressed are his own and do not reflect the view of any organisation. Twitter: @johnepinel.
