For my current job, I had to read up on sustainability topics and understand the urgency of climate change and why we are running out of time to provide future generations with a livable earth.
The more I read, the more I learn of the reasons to be afraid of if there is no coordinated global effort by all countries to work together to solve this existential crisis or all of us and our children will suffer.
We have seen the visible results of record-high temperatures from 2023 to now as historical records are broken easily. The trend is clear and temperatures are rising to the point of no return if no drastic actions are taken soon. No one wants to take the blame but it is easy to point the finger at others. We have to work together to turn the tide or this will be a losing battle.
So what is climate change? Thanks to many years of uninhibited global industrialization and the ignorance of its side effects on nature, we have been adding greenhouse gas (GHG) into the atmosphere at an alarming rate. This pollution of the atmosphere with the 7 types of GHG (mainly Carbon dioxide (75%) and Methane 15% plus 5 others) has resulted in the trapping of heat within the skies above us. They have formed a blanket of heat insulation that has caused global warming. The record temperatures we see now are a direct byproduct of more GHG being released.
What we need to do now is to aim for carbon zero/neutral as a future goal so that we will not add more harmful GHG into the environment. That is why we see 2030 and 2050 years being branded as milestones for getting carbon-neutral by many countries.
Governments have been using carbon tax as a disincentive to get polluters to clean up their act. The private sector voluntary carbon market is taking too long to develop global standards and authorities must step in and co-ordinate now to get meaningful progress and action.
Singapore has raised its carbon tax from $5/ton in 2023 to $25 this year by 5x and will continue to raise it to $45 in 2026 and 80-100 in 2030. Companies like electricity generating companies (gencos) which emit more than 25,000 tons of GHG per year will be liable to pay this tax. About 50 have been identified as Scope 1 direct emitters of GHG. They will pass this cost downstream to indirect consumers of their products (ie. consumers of electricity) – termed Scope 2 emitters. Scope 3 is for the rest of the end users for “other indirect emissions”.
This carbon tax, while politically friendly to citizens initially, targets large corporations. However, the trickle-down effects will eventually affect everyone in the food chain by raising overall prices as the cost is passed down. For now, companies that can show efforts to remove carbon will be able to register carbon credits for sale to the polluters who want to buy them to offset and reduce their carbon tax.
Burning fossil fuels is the most damaging and releases GHG into the air. Coal and oil to produce electricity, cars burning gasoline and using fire to clear forests for agriculture are some major actions that need to be drastically reduced. Most countries like S’pore use gas/LNG to produce 95% of their electricity needs as it is the least polluting fossil fuel. Yet the burning of gas does also produce methane and CO2.
For cars that use gasoline, data has shown that it is only 25% effective in converting that to energy for use while EVs (electric vehicles) are 75% effective (3x). Hence the big incentive to get more EVs on the road. The issue of EV batteries being highly pollutive to manufacture will be minimised as more used batteries are recycled over time. The components of the used batteries can be reused again. Alternatively, old batteries can be repurposed for other uses, such as home batteries for power storage of home solar panels.
With ever-increasing demand for electricity, the power-hungry data centres will consume more as AI and new chips turbocharge new developments. Crypto mining was once a big consumer until it was banned in most countries or forced to evolve, for example, ETH which moved from proof of work to the friendlier proof of stake.
The big picture of climate change does not look good. We are moving too slowly to stop the freight train of global warming. America blames China and India for huge increases in carbon pollution. China blames America for hundreds of years of polluting the world and then wants them to foot the bill now.
Everyone is looking to renewable energy as a way to become carbon neutral. Solar, Hydro and Wind are the way to go as they are sustainable resources that do not emit GHG when producing electric power. Nuclear power will have to make a comeback soon as they have the highest efficiency of 90% with hardly any pollution and is the most reliable. China is at the forefront of this initiative. As a side note, China produced more new solar electricity in one year (in 2023) than the total combined solar renewable energy America had produced since Day 1!
We need to step up the game to fight global warming and reduce/remove carbon from the atmosphere, or else Earth will be like a frog in a slow boiling pot suffocating from climate change as it heats up to unbearable human conditions.
All solutions to reduce our carbon footprints, like nuclear, must be explored and greater global co-ordination efforts are needed to make the world focused on this existential crisis of our modern times for the sake of our future generations.
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