July 2023 Issue
PROGRESS REPORT
ON
THE PARIS
CLIMATE AGREEMENT
PART 20
Written by : Andrew Sia
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From the Desk of the Publisher
We talked about renewable energy which is the hot topic today. We also continued to mention about the global warming. What it led to the wildfires in Canada affected Northeast U.S. and we suffered from the smoke of the burning forest fire and the air-quality of New York City at one point last Wednesday surpassed 400 and reached at 413 of the air-quality index of PM2.5 and the weather app on our mobile sent out warnings and told people to stay indoors. They also advise people to cover themselves with H5N1 face mask if they would have to go out. The air quality had reached hazardous level.
China is the Main Drive for Renewable Energy
It is forecasted by the International Energy Agency that the renewable energy capacity is set to grow by a third in 2023 and it is mainly driven by China in solar and wind power. It is the largest annual expansion to date, estimated to grow by 107 gigawatts to 440 gigawatts. This is equivalent to the total installed power capacity of Germany and Spain.
This is due to the combinations of challenges, such as the energy security concern, increase of interest rates, high investment costs, supply chain challenges, with the combination of government support and increased competitiveness, this has pushed the increase of renewable energy.
The COVID-19 lockdown slowed the solar and wind power projects in China. It has quickly been catching up and it will become the renewable energy leader and account for 55% of global annual capacity in 2024.
Manufacturing of the solar photovoltaics and the solar electricity panels in China accounted for two-thirds of the total increase in renewable capacity forecast for 2023.
The global manufacturing for solar panels is expected to be more than double to reach 1,000 gigawatts by 2024 and this will be led by China, followed by the U.S., India and Europe. Based on the current trend, we will have enough solar energy to meet the global net zero gas emissions by 2050.
And the newly installed solar and wind capacity will save the EU electricity consumers by €100 billion over 2021 to 2023.
Ghana the Fashion Dumping Ground
The default of the debts for Ghana is not its only problem. We learned that country’s waterway is the most polluted due to the dumping of the secondhand clothing in its River Volta. The study of how polluted the water is and also the bring to the awareness of the situation is carried out by Yvette Yaa Kinadu Tetteh, the swimmer who traveled on a solar-powered boat names The Woman Who Does Not Fear taking air and water samples along the way to measure the pollution.
Yvette’s swimming in the river is a movement supported by the Or Foundation who is campaigning against the dumping of textile waste in Ghana. This is the cause of the water pollution in the country.
Ghana imports about 15 million items of secondhand clothing each week. They named them as “dead white men’s clothes.” In 2012 alone, Ghana imported $214 million of used clothes, making it the world’s biggest importer.
In reality, they were the donated clothes coming from countries like the U.S., U.K., and even China and they were sold to exporters and importers who then sell them to vendors in places like Kantamanto in Accra, one of the world’s largest secondhand clothing markets. There are thousands of stores in Kantamanto crammed with clothes from H&M, Levi, Tesco, Primark and the like.
In another section of the market, people worked their way to repurpose items of clothing that could otherwise be discarded. Take for instance, they cut the T-shirts apart and sew them together with other bits of materials to create skirts, knickers, tops and boxer shorts. There is the Kantamanto Hand Workers’ Association for this kind of work and the repurposed garments are exported to other countries like Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast. This is used to solve the problem of the wasted garments which could have been imported as soiled, broken and unfit for resale. This is also due to the volume being imported weekly and about 40% of those clothing can be considered as waste and now can be salvaged.
The area has been expanded because of all the activities from Kantamanto where the clothing wastes have to leave to nearby towns. Old Fadama, once a vibrant and thriving community resembles now as an apocalyptic landscape.
Korle Lagoon is there, but its waters are black and filled with excrement. It shoreline is full of litters, the air is hazy with smoke from burning waste. And Korle Lagoon leads to ocean and the waste is washed out to sea before some of it would line the beaches. In Jamestown, a beach next to the huge port development financed by China. But the beach is impossible to penetrate because of the textile waste and plastic waste.
It would need to be further out, perhaps 80 miles toward the east where the scene can become more different. That is when Yvette Yaa Kinadu Tetteh, the swimmer can start her last leg of her swim. The water is clean and enticing, banks are lined with palm trees and sandy beaches. Yvette swan towards the shore of Ada where the River Volta meets the Atlantic Ocean and the water is free from pollution.
The following chart shows you how the donated clothing ended up polluting Ghana.
Japan Faces Dilemma in Effort to Decarbonize Supply Chain
Japan’s environmental policy is behind in meeting the market’s demand as it is still heavily depending on coal, natural gas and oil. Its automotive industry, especially with its commercial truck unit of Toyota has been long overdue. It requires a new infrastructure for energy generation to reduce its carbon emissions and fuel efficiency. Toyota has expressed the limitation to give its support to the Hino Motors.
The country has pushed for an energy transition and climate strategy that would not sacrifice its economy growth. But it has been proven to be difficult. The use of ammonia as a tool to reduce carbon emissions faced the criticism from G7 members as it lacks a full plan for phasing out of fossil fuel infrastructure.
Companies like Panasonic and Sony, the latter one is challenged by Apple and other global clients that demand them to reduce their carbon emissions. At this time, the situation is becoming more critical because of the geopolitical situation as companies like Micron, Samsung and TSMC are increasing manufacturing and research in Japan to respond to the risks posed by the technology war between the U.S. and China.
Japan is facing pressure from the two of the largest U.S. public pension systems—the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the Office of the New York City Comptroller—both have voted against Akio Toyoda, at its upcoming annual meeting for presiding a board that was not sufficiently independent. Along with Institutional Shareholder Services and the Church of England Pensions Board for more disclosure on its climate lobbying efforts.
Investors are complaining about the lack of speed in rolling out electric vehicles and appearing to be over reliant on its hybrid technology.
Until Japan is ready to position itself as a reliable and supply-chain friendly partners of the West, it will only continue to create damage to its climate environment as well as going against the global tide.
Shanghai Recorded Its hottest Day in May in Decades
Temperature hits 36.1° C as China continued a trend of unusually hot weather in China since March. It is already predicted that a repeat of hot blistering summer like last year. The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau said that this year’s hot weather beat the previous May record of 35.7° C set in ° C in the years of 1876, 1903, 1915 and 2018 according to the statistic.
China has deluged for weeks by torrential rains in some regions in extreme conditions.
We can blame this to human-induced climate change.
Canada’s Wildfires Called for Firefighters from Overseas
Wildfires are common in spring and summer in much of Canada. But this year, the fires have been remarkable and they are burning across much of the country. So far there have been more than 2,300 fires that burned about 9,142,899 acres of forest, far more than the average of 674,357 acres in the season. It is stretching from the West to the East coast sending toxic fumes in major cities like Ottawa, and Montreal. The smoke blow into the United States around the Northeast and turned New York City’s skyline into an apocalyptic orange hue. It is due to a dry, windy and abnormally warm spring created an ideal wildfire condition in many regions.
It is forecasted that an above average risk for wildfires for the rest of June. Lightning typical sets off wildfires and because they always start in remote area and are difficult for firefighters to access.
Heat and drought associated with global warming. Trees are vulnerable to fire. Also those dried out dead grass, pine needles and other things on the forest floor can kindle the fire.
Wildfires bring smoke and many cities resulting from smoke and smog. Only rain can improve the air quality.
Canada doesn’t have a national wildfire fighting force and have to rely on local volunteers. Coordinating centers would shuffle firefighters, water bombers and helicopters from nearby provinces.
This time the scope and scale of the wildfires have drawn the help of 1,100 firefighters from abroad to help. They came from France, Chile, Costa Rica, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
COP28 Summit Preliminary Meeting in Berlin
It is known that the coming COP28 will be held in United Arab Emirates in December. The meeting in Berlin is to reach the $100 billion by 2020 which was agreed by the 40 nations at the UN Summit 14 years ago. The developed nations had raised only $83.3 billion by the target date of 2020. This time the goal has reached finally. The money is also meant to help those poorer countries to join the effort to control the global warming.
Sultan Al Jaber, president-designated of COP28, who is also the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company mentioned about the development of technologies to reduce emissions, rather than phasing out production of fossil fuels. In the transitional period, the focus on phasing fossil fuels but also boost up affordable zero-carbon alternatives. He also emphasize public, multilateral and private sectors to be mobilized in new and innovative ways on critical issue of climate finance.
The two-day conference in Berlin was attended by 40 countries, including John Kerry from the U.S. and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The Views of the GOP Candidates About the Climate Change
The wildfires from Canada engulfing much of the Northeast of the U.S. in a yellow haze of hazardous air pollution. We have seen the return of the using of the H5N1 mask. The weather app sent out warning about the air quality by the hour to alert the people’s attention. Hospital emergency rooms received cases of asthma and other breathing problems. For a couple of days since March 14, New York City was under siege.
But we have found that the Republican campaigning for presidency have largely downplayed the issue and ignore policies that are related to climate change.
We are looking at the responses of the candidates as the following.
Donald J. Trump – He continues to mock climate science and campaigning the production of the fossil fuels.
Ron DeSantis – Although his state, Florida, in on the front line of climate change because of the more frequent hurricanes and the Atlantic Ocean is getting warmer. He dismissed concern about climate change and consider it as the left-wing political agenda.
Nikki Haley – She was the former governor of South Carolina and agreed that climate change is real and caused by humans. But she rejected governmental effort to reduce emissions and said that it is the liberal ideas that would cost trillion of dollars which can destroy the U.S. economy.
Mike Pence – He acknowledged climate change is real. But he commented the left’s climate radicalism with their radical environmentalists are exaggerating climate change’s effects.
Tom Scott – He is the senator from South Carolina who acknowledged that climate change is occurring. But he opposed most policies that would curb carbon emissions and he voted against Biden’s $370 billion and tax credits over 10 years into clean energy technology.
Chris Christie – He is the governor of New Jersey. He acknowledged the reality of climate change. He announced a moratorium on new coal-plant permits, signed offshore wind power legislation which has not been approved in his administration. He called for increases to domestic oil production.
Asa Hutchinson – He is the former governor of Arkansas and never speaks about climate change. He would generally stick to party line.
Vivek Ramaswamy – He is an American entrepreneur. He supports the use of more nuclear power. He is a Republican but he doesn’t said things loud and clear.
Doug Burgum – He is the governor of North Dakota. He announced that he would want North Dakota to be carbon neutral by 2030. He wants only to do carbon-capture program and would not want to move away from fossil fuels.
Saudi’s Plot During the Global Policy on Fossil Oils
It has a futuristic research center in the desert to develop its oil-based economy greener. It is rapidly building more solar panels and expand the using of electric vehicles. You would think that Saudi Arabia has decided to join the western world in phasing out fossil fuels and also go for the renewable energy.
YOU ARE TOTALLY WRONG!
Saudi has a completely different vision and it is plotting to burn less oil at home, free up more oil to sell abroad, and its long term strategy is to hook the world for the decades to come and wants to remain the biggest supplier of fossil oils.
Although its representatives at the United Nations global climate summit in Egypt in last December during the GOP27 Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, urging the world to burn less oil, and yet its statement failed to mention about the phasing out of fossil fuels.
Saudi has a strategy which is at odd with the world. It plans to keep oil at the center of the global economy, and it is in the realms of research, technology and even investing in education.
Its government-controlled oil company, Saudi Aramco, is producing one out of every ten barrels of oil and it tends to sell more while the others are giving up and try to be in line with the reduction of carbon emissions and think the way to global warming.
Having said that, Aramco has become a prolific funder for research in financing more than 500 studies over the past five years including research at keeping gasoline cars competitive, to develop more efficient gasoline and combustion engines and ways to bolster oil production.
Its green transition at home is still very slow. It generates less than 1% of its electricity from renewable energy.
But behind close doors at global summit, Saudi Arabia objected the call to phaseout fossil fuels. It expressed its opinion that hydrocarbons like oil, gas and coal would continue to be an essential part of the global energy mix for decades to come. Together with Russia in the last COP27, they tried to sabotage any clauses in the agreement to rein in the fossil fuels and their purpose in common has been clear to the others.
To improve its international image, Saudi Arabia has spent $2.5 billion in the U.S. universities and make the kingdom one of the top contributors to higher education. Since 1026, it has spent $140 million on lobbyists to influence American policy and public opinion. We have not to forget that it murdered the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 by Saudi operatives. All these are for bolstering the kingdom’s overall image.
Renewable Energy Needs Power Grid
Politicians across the world have clamored to back renewable energy projects. In according to the Paris agreement, it is imperative for all nations to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and to cut carbon emissions. It is agreed that almost all the parties agreed to limit the global temperature rises to below 2° C or better still to keep it 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels.
To main the target of 1.5° C the renewable power generated must be more than triple from today’s 3,000 gigawatts to 10,000 gigawatts by 2030.
Countries have been busy setting ambitious green energy target, and for instance the EU in March reached a provisional agreement among its nations to generate 42.5% of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030. In April, the G7 group of nations pledged to increase offshore wind capacity by 150 gigawatts by 2030 and solar capacity to more than one trillion watts.
With all the noises about the replacing the fossil fuels with renewable energy, there is also the grids that are part of the infrastructure that we ought to look into. There will not be enough of the grid connection if we are going to grow our power capacity. It has the lack of public consciousness.
The grids were developed after the second world war to serve the big power stations burning fossil fuels such as coal and gas. The electricity generated was then sent via a network of power lines and cables to our homes.
In the transition from power stations to solar and wind farms, a new power grid is required for connections, especially when those farms are in remote areas or off-coast that the infrastructure will need to be built. But grid investment is something that has been under-funded. Fortunately, it doesn’t require very high technique and time to build them, the question is where to find the money.
