Not really a cop-out
PremiumPerhaps it’s time to initiate talks on unconventional ideas that are largely seen as emergency options. Solar geoengineering, for instance, could get a look-in.
The UN climate change summit ended in global dismay over the Glasgow pact’s promises likely being unequal to the challenge of fending off disaster, with global warming projections still in the danger zone and finance gaps yet to be adequately plugged. The world awoke late, but at least carbon-neutrality is now in play on a faster path, and this spells survival hope. Final-phase optics led some international blame for a weak deal to be ascribed to India’s nth-hour pushback on a coal phase-out that resulted in a joint pledge instead to “phase-down" its use for electricity. However, a population-based analysis of today’s emission scenario would acquit us of “spoiler" charges.
India’s coal dependency is still very high, and too fast a shift away would be nigh impossible without an unbearably high economic cost. While coal is a particularly dirty fuel, which gives it a bad public image, it’s important not to get distracted by an excessive focus on it. The big issue of consequence is that everyone needs to work harder at capping industrial-age heat. Perhaps it’s time to initiate talks on unconventional ideas that are largely seen as emergency options. Solar geoengineering, for instance, could get a look-in.
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