This week Lord Adair Turner, the former chairman of the UK’s Climate Change Committee and the current chair of the Energy Transitions Commission, was interviewed in the Financial Times (behind a paywall). There are two particularly important quotes from him. The first concerns what it will cost to get to net zero: “In 2020, the world was investing about a trillion dollars a year in things to do with the new economy, at the core of which are solar, wind, batteries, grids, etc. Analysis by both the ETC and the IEA suggests that the gross investment needed to build a global zero-carbon economy will rise to around $3.5tn-$4tn a year by 2030, with 70 per cent of this needed to build larger, decarbonised power systems. The second biggest cost, after electric power, is buildings, particularly in the richer parts of the world: heat pumps and insulation. That $3.5tn-$4tn would be around 3.3 per cent of global GDP in 2030. That scale of investment will then need to be maintained for another 20 or so years, before tailing off.” That is clear recognition of how important buildings are in our climate change strategies.
The second quote conveys Lord Turner’s optimism: “Look, I’m an absolute technological optimist. The way I sometimes put it is that if a benevolent deity was above us, and if she was to send a squad of angels to steal about three quarters of our known fossil fuel reserves, so that we only had the amount we could safely burn left, we would over the next 30 or 40 years build a zero-carbon economy across the world. And once we got to the end, we would say that this was far easier than we had thought. That’s what I believe.” Would you agree?
In the context of COP29 in Azerbaijan in November, there is a global call to the UNFCCC to include cultural heritage, the arts and creative sectors in climate policy. From the Biosphere website, here are 5 reasons why Billie Eilish is a leader in the fight against climate change.
Are you up for a quiz? Check out the post on EnerWhizz. The quiz for August is now open. Be a winner!
In planning travel over the upcoming weeks, here is some useful news to help you along:
- Lonely Planet’s train expert provides his top 5 rail journeys in Europe for 2024.
- For the best hikes in Europe in 2024, there are many good suggestions on the 57 hours website. For those who want to combine hiking with food and wine, check out the Hedonistic Hiking website.
- Climbing House provides the 11 Top Climbing Spots in Europe.
- Epic Road Rides provides their choice of the best places to cycle for a cycling holiday this summer.
- There is always the option of virtual tourism at the Xplore Nature Channel. There are now 130 videos. Find out more about the channel here. Why not start with a tour to the Earth Pyramids in the South Tyrol region of Italy.
- CopenPay – To get tourists to act more sustainably Wonderful Copenhagen is launching a new initiative: Pay for a variety of Copenhagen attractions with climate-friendly actions.
Wendell Berry ( b. 1934), an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer, makes us sit up and think: “Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.”
EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:
- Hopes have grown that AI may also help humanity tackle global environmental problems such as climate change
- Is sufficiency catching on?
- The crucial role of data in decarbonising our buildings
- The more successful the IPCC becomes in disseminating climate knowledge, the more deeply imbued in climate politics it becomes
- How communities are coming together to retrofit their homes and take important steps to address climate change
- Blog by Phoebe Owen: How is energy conservation measured?
- Zimbabwe’s energy transition
- UK caught in dilemma to build new houses and yet maintain environmental targets
- Global “backlash” against climate action was being stoked by the fossil fuel industry
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Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 