COP 16, Cancun Mexico: http://cc2010.mx/en/

Just one year ago it seemed that the whole world was abuzz with anticipation of the upcoming Climate Change talks at Copenhagen. As it turned out however, it wasn’t such a great outcome in terms of the agreement itself, or our chances of averting at least some of the effects of climate change.So what has happened in the last year?

Well despite making the right noises, U.S. Senate has failed to pass any meaningful clean energy legislation. Developing nations are resentful of being asked to foot the bill for cleaning up years of emissions by more developed countries, and the agreement which was signed back then seems to have been put away on the shelf.

In March 2010 India and China did ask the UN to officially be listed as part of the accord, but China, as the world’s largest emitter (generating 22 percent of global emissions), said publicly it would only reduce its carbon intensity at least 40 percent (a different measure) while allowing overall emissions to increase. India signed up to a 20-25 percent reduction of 2005 emissions.  If you want to see the who’s who of carbon reduction commitments, check here – http://www.usclimatenetwork.org/policy/copenhagen-accord-commitments

So What Next?

With the next round of talks in Cancun, Mexico in  a couple of weeks time, things don’t look much better. 

Christiana Figueres, the new United Nations climate chief, said, “Let me be clear: There is no magic bullet, no one climate agreement that will solve everything right now. To expect that is naive. However, I am certain the world can do this step by step, but only if we keep on walking firmly in the right direction, including at Cancun.”

The Obama administration has announced that there will be no push for major new achievements at COP 16, and there will be no Mexico vacation for the President.  The combination of a weak outcome last year in Copenhagen along with a  faltering global economy has provided the perfect excuse for politicians to conveniently ignore or forget about the ‘little problem with the climate’.

What to do!

Enough of the doom and gloom (and there’s a lot of it about!). I think that the last year has provided a lot of clarity in the wake of governments inability to act cohesively on climate change. So here’s my 2 cent’s worth:

It’s clear that pictures of Polar Bears perched on melting ice will not scare us into action. Sorry ad agencies.

We need to stop relying on legislation to fix this. There is no single agreement, treaty or accord that is going to magically transform the planet into a clean, green place for the future. So forget Carbon capping, pricing, trading and all that.

What we can do is to transition to cheap, clean energy. And I mean clean unsubsidized energy. Why? well by 2030 there will be about 8 billion of us and by 2050 there’ likely to be around 10 billion. Global energy use over the intervening period will possibly double or triple, at a time when we are recognizing that we need to cut our emissions by 50%.

The only way that we’re going to make this clean energy revolution happen is by buying into it. Governments and businesses need to invest in clean-tech solutions, and also to recognize that this is going to be a huge market and therefore a good thing.

Conservation – both of energy and natural resources is an absolute requirement as new clean energy technologies will take time to mature. Save what we already have and don’t waste it.

Who gets it?

China seems to get it. China is rapidly emerging as a clean tech powerhouse of the world, building clean tech industrial centers all over the country – luring innovative companies large and small with state of the art infrastructure and generous investment tax policies. They are guaranteeing markets for a wide range of clean energy technologies, and building a transportation and electrical infrastructure that can support those technologies. They are procuring on the cutting edge of a range of clean technologies, from nuclear power plants to bullet trains.

Some companies get it. Google is investing massively in clean technologies, both in their data centers and clean energy generation, recognizing that conventional fossil fuel based energy simply won’t be able to keep pace with growth in the long term.

Finally, I like to think that here at 1E, we get it too. Our philosophy of ‘Efficient IT’ is obviously a tiny piece of a massive picture, but be of no doubt, the savings that can be made (both in cost and energy) worldwide, are enormous.

Do you get it too?