Cut fossil fuel use ‘dramatically’ to meet climate goals, says Shell-backed report

The use of fossil fuel, particularly coal and oil, must decline “sharply” if the world is to meet the goals of the Paris accord, according to a new report backed by energy giants Shell and BHP Billiton.

Global coal use must be cut by 70% within 25 years, oil use must fall 30% and gas can increase by only 2% out to 2040. The growing global population will instead get its energy from a huge expansion of renewables, combined with more efficient energy use and other low-carbon technologies.

Those are the conclusions of the Energy Transitions Commission, a group set up in 2013 by a cross-section of major firms, NGOs and academics. Its conclusions broadly align with other pathways for 2C and below, but the commission’s membership adds an interesting twist to the findings.

Read the Carbon Brief story by Simon Evans - “Cut fossil fuel use ‘dramatically’ to meet climate goals, says Shell-backed report.”

People who don't have children benefit our environment more than any campaign – it's time to celebrate them

Kim Cattrall famously said
that she didn't want to
be referred to as "childless"
 as she found the term offensive. 

The global population is growing rapidly, while the resources we depend on to live are dwindling. If you consider the footprint each person makes on the world – in terms of food and water consumed, electricity and gas used, and waste produced – the challenge of improving living standards while protecting natural resources and the environment is striking. The question of human population size is fundamentally one of sustainability, and in that so is the choice to have children.

Rather than being taboo, being childfree is something that should be celebrated and valued. The childfree do more for our environment than any campaign. In the UK our electricity use per capita is 5,407 kWh – it’s nigh on impossible to make up for the environmental footprint of having a child by remembering to switch off the lights. Finite resources mean we must consider our consumption now, what living standards are acceptable, and how to maintain the ecosystems on which we depend and how many of us there are.

Read the story on the Independent by Simon Ross - “People who don't have children benefit our environment more than any campaign – it's time to celebrate them.”

Ian Dunlop posts regarding his alarm about planetary overshoot

A Facebook post from Ian Dunlop,72, who has wide experience in energy resources, infrastructure, and international business, and who for many years was on the international staff of the Royal Dutch Shell Group.He has worked at senior level in oil, gas and coal exploration and production, in scenario and long-term energy planning, competition reform and privatisation. Here is a personal post from Facebook.

Ian Dunlop - alarmed about
planetary overshoot.

Earth Overshoot Day – 8th August 2016

My birthday apart, a really important event occurred yesterday.  On August 8 we reached Earth Overshoot Day for 2016.   We used as much from nature as our planet can renew in the whole year.  We have now used  more ecological resources and services through overfishing, overharvesting forests than nature can regenerate, and emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than forests can sequester. From now on in 2016, we are destroying our natural capital.  Overshoot Day in 2000 was in late September, every year it has been getting earlier as we consume more than the planet can supply.  Looked at another way, the global population of 7 billion now needs the capacity of 1.6 planets each year to survive, clearly not sustainable. But look behind the average on this chart.

If the world’s 7 billion all lived at Australian standards 5.4 planets would be required, at US standards 4.8 planets, at Chinese standards 2 planets and at Indian standards 0.7 planets.

So Australia is one of the most unsustainable societies on Earth.  We only prosper because we have a relatively small population living in a large land mass, benefiting from the export of many products which are now unsustainable, such as coal and CSG, to other countries.

The irony is that we have the resources and potential to be one of the most sustainable societies on Earth if we choose to make the transition to a genuinely low-carbon society using our abundance of solar, wind and wave energy, geothermal and possibly new generation nuclear.  Other societal changes are also essential such as the elimination of our excessive waste, inter alia  with greatly improved energy efficiency and conservation. 

The longer we leave it, the less chance of that sustainable prosperity being realised as climate change and resource depletion impacts will overtake our ability to make the transition in reasonable order.

Community pressure must force our corporate and political, both left and right, incumbency to take the urgency of the transition seriously.  Despite the current vogue for ministerial policy u-turns, there is no sign that the incumbency really understand what is coming.

Hans helps us understand the nexus between population and climate change

Hans Rosling from the Gapminder Foundation
the good things about population growth.

Many equate the difficulties arising from climate change simplistically with the exponential growth in population.

In some instances that is correct and their conclusions cannot be denied, but people such as Professor of Ethics Clive Hamilton only recently argued it is not worsened by sheer numbers alone, rather how those people live, their consumptive behaviour and their use of fossil fuel energy.

Those views are reflected by the Swedish medical doctor and statistician Hans Rosling, of the Gapminder Foundation, who interprets global population figures with compassion, clarity and humour to separate the myths and misconceptions from the facts.

He points out that the world population has more than doubled over the past 50 years, ballooning from roughly 3.5 billion to more than 7 billion.

Hans uses statistics to explore what sounds concerning, frightening even and asks: “Do more people mean a lower quality of life across the globe?”

In dissecting and laying out the very real challenges that humanity faces, Hans’ message remains that the world is a much better place than many people think.

Watch the hour-long video – “Is the ‘population bomb’ real?”

Australians among the 'big hitters' in the pollution stakes

When it comes to pollution we (Australia) are right up there with the big hitters.

A story today on the ABC headed: “Australia seventh-worst polluter on Earth: report” tells of the contribution we are making the future wellbeing of the planet.

The report, for the conservation group, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), says the spiralling global population and over-consumption are threatening the future health of the planet.