2014 Year End Review: Reasons for Hope

Here are some of the most inspiring and transformative climate stories of 2014. Although global temperatures continue to increase and levels of atmospheric carbon are around 400 ppm, we have seen some reasons to buoy our hope over the course of the last year. People, companies, cities, states, countries, and regions are beginning to wake up and face the challenge of climate change.

There are some technological innovations (like graphene) that may help us to transition to a low carbon. However, even without such game changing disruptive innovations, in 2014 it became apparent that we can still make the transition with existing technologies and at reasonable costs. In 2014, both the Risky Business report and a White House report, illustrated the cost of delaying action.

China and the US have signed an agreement to lower emissions and Europe has shown world leading leadership. Their leadership is important as together they account for more than half of all global emissions of energy related CO2.

The EU already has an emission reduction plan in place. The EPA's Clean Power Plan and vehicle emissions standards go a long way to reducing US carbon emissions.

We have also seen serious progress to reduce short lived pollutants like methane which is responsible for 25 percent of the current warming. The technology to reduce methane emissions in the extractives industry already exists.

Energy efficiency and the idea of putting a price on carbon (eg California and the RGGI states) are other powerful ways of combating climate change that have gained some traction this year.

Perhaps the most important and inspirational climate story has to do with the powerful new climate movement that is emerging. This new movement was in evidence in September at the People's Climate March in New York City. Not only did hundreds of thousands came together in Manhattan, there were also 2,600 events in 162 countries around the world.

We also saw growing interest in the campaign to divest from fossil fuels and invest in clean energy. This is crucial as there is no way we can reduce emissions without substantially reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.

In 2014 we saw evidence that from a social, scientific, economic and political point of view it is possible to reverse our perilous trajectory.

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Climate Scientist Susan Solomon's heartening Look at Environmental Successes

Susan Solomon, is the Ellen Swallow Richards Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Science at MIT and she is also author of the book “The Coldest March.” She is a scientist who remains hopeful despite the array of environmental threats we are facing.  While it is easy to believe that we are powerless to combat climate change she points out that there have been a number of environmental successes that give us reason to hope that we can make a difference before it is too late.

In recent decades have seen major environmental progress: In the 1970s, the United States banned indoor leaded paint following evidence that it was poisoning children. In the 1990s, the United States put in place regulations to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide — a move that significantly reduced acid rain. Beginning in the 1970s, countries around the world began to phase out leaded gasoline; blood lead levels in children dropped dramatically in response.

“I find it tremendously uplifting to look back at how our world has changed,” says Solomon who is teaching a course on Environmental Science and Society, exploring how society has tackled a range of past environmental challenges through science, engineering, policy, public engagement and politics.

In 1985, scientists discovered that the Earth’s protective ozone layer was thinning over Antarctica. In response, Solomon led an expedition whose atmospheric measurements helped show that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) — chemicals then used in aerosols and as coolants in refrigerators and air conditioners — were to blame for ozone depletion. Her discovery ultimately contributed to the basis for the United Nations’ Montreal Protocol, an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out CFCs and other ozone-depleting chemicals.

“I think young people today are growing up at a time when they don’t know that we actually have made tremendous progress on a whole series of past environmental challenges,” Solomon says. “Climate change has been called the mother of all environmental issues … and I think our approach to this problem can only be better informed if we understand better what we’ve done in the past.”

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Yvo de Boer on the Future of the UNFCCC

At the World Energy Congress in Montreal, Canada, Rebecca Lutzy, interviewed the former UN climate change boss Yvo de Boer, on the future of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the UNFCCC and the sixth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP) is being held in Cancun (Quintana Roo), Mexico, between 29 November and 10 December 2010.

After four years of hard work, de Boer left the UNFCCC earlier this year to work with KPMG. When asked about the future of the UNFCCC process and what to expect in Cancun, de Boer was optimistic, saying that he believes that "it should be possible to make practical progress on frameworks on adaptation, mitigation, technology, finance, capacity building, and forests."

de Boer explained that managing climate change is about a lot more than just reducing emissions. "If coming to grips with climate change were only about reducing emissions, then it would make a lot of sense to just bring the 20 or so major economies of the world together in a room and get them to focus on emissions reduction, but...the climate change agenda isn't only about reducing emissions. It's about adapting to the impacts of climate change as well...and then you're talking about the 100 or so developing countries who did absolutely nothing to contribute to climate change but will be confronted with the bulk of the impacts. So...you need a larger group at the table."

However, at the World Energy Congress roundtable, de Boer noted that more productive progress can be made by splitting up issues and having subsets of countries work on specifics, rather than having all countries "at the table" for all discussions.

de Boer also said that companies first need to figure out where they stand on carbon and other sustainability measures and then to respond to the risks and opportunities presented by their footprints.

He stressed that "it's clear that the international community wants to address climate change...it's clear that sustainability is rising to the top of the agenda of governments and companies and of consumers...the environment in which businesses have to operate is changing very rapidly." He used airlines, companies with long supply chains, and beer breweries as examples of businesses that face risks related to their carbon (and water) footprints but also face business opportunities through smart choices in responding to and reducing impacts.


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