It’s been a tough year for the battle against climate change. The world has seen the worst heatwave since records began, and a global energy crisis has prompted a dash for coal
But ahead of the COP27 climate summit, here are some reasons to be optimistic
Conversation
It is a year since representatives from nearly 200 countries met at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, UK
Yet, key commitments made there haven’t been kept
newscientist.com/article/232559
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Worse, as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we’ve seen a worldwide energy crisis that has triggered a rush for coal and other fossil fuels
newscientist.com/article/231301
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But dig a little deeper and there are some encouraging signs of climate action, ahead of next month’s COP27 climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
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Over the past decade or so, renewables have gone from being prohibitively expensive to the cheapest option in many cases
“We’ve seen a dramatic reduction in the cost of clean technology, and those costs are continuing to come down,” says climate campaigner Tom Evans
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This means power plants currently in the planning phase that are designed to generate electricity by burning fossil fuels might never actually be used.
“You cannot run them economically,” says Evans
newscientist.com/article/mg2513
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Russian gas has been another big story this year. Supplies to Europe have dwindled, leaving countries on the continent scrambling for alternative sources
Many are now importing liquefied natural gas, or LNG, from countries including the US and Qatar
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And some estimate that Europe’s switch to LNG may actually result in lower emissions in the short term than sticking with Russian gas
This is because the long pipelines used to transport the gas leak huge amounts of methane - more emissions than it takes to ship LNG to Europe
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The energy crisis itself might serve as a reminder of the dangers of relying on unsustainable fossil fuels and speed the transition to a cleaner, more secure energy future, according to the head of the
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This means we may be nearing an economic, social and political tipping point where the pace of decarbonisation will accelerate dramatically
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We aren’t there yet, says at , but as costs fall and the terrifying consequences of global heating become more obvious, politicians may be emboldened to take more ambitious action
Learn more in ’s full feature:
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