Page 10 - AfrElec Week 37 2021

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The Gambia becomes surprise

climate champion

THE GAMBIA THE Gambia has become a surprising global compatible.
climate champion, as it has been adjudged to be In another seven, overall climate action is
the only country with a climate action plan that nearly sufficient, meaning they are not yet con-
is consistent with the Paris Agreement 1.5˚C sistent with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C tem-
warming limit. perature limit, but could be so with moderate
The world’s major carbon emitters have failed improvements.
to update their 2030 climate targets in recent Three countries, the EU, Germany and the
months, with no major polluting countries hav- US, have significantly updated their targets with
ing improved their climate targets since May. a raft of new policies, and while the UK’s domes-
This means that the 2030 emissions gap tic target is 1.5˚C compatible, its policies and
has barely changed, according to new analysis international support don’t match.
released today by the Climate Action Tracker. This leaves three quarters of the countries the
Only one country, The Gambia, is rating as CAT assesses with significant gaps in climate
having overall climate action that is consistent action.
with the Paris Agreement 1.5˚C warming limit, “Of particular concern are Australia, Brazil,
according to the CAT’s newly updated rating Indonesia, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Sin-
method. gapore, Switzerland and Vietnam: they have
Meanwhile, a number of African countries, failed to lift ambition at all, submitting the same
such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Morrocco and Nigeria, or even less ambitious 2030 targets than those
have been judged as having carried out “almost they put forward in 2015. These countries need
sufficient” climate action. to rethink their choice,” said Bill Hare, CEO of
The analysis comes after scientists at the UN Climate Analytics, a CAT partner.
International Panel on Climate Change (UN “The IPCC has given the world a ‘code red’
IPCC) warned in August that the rapid changes warning on the dangers of climate change, rein-
in the atmosphere, ocean and biosphere that forcing the urgent need for the world to halve
had occurred were unprecedented over a period emissions by 2030. An increasing number of
of many thousands of years, and that the world people around the world are suffering from
was now seeing the results of human-induced ever more severe and frequent impacts of cli-
climate change. mate change, yet government action continues
“In May, after the Climate Leaders’ Summit to lag behind what is needed. While many gov-
and the Petersburg dialogue, we reported that ernments have committed to net zero, without
there appeared to be good momentum with new near-term action achieving net zero is virtually
climate action commitments, but governments impossible,” said Hare.
then had only closed the emissions gap by up to On the policy front, coal remains an issue, as
14%,” said Niklas Höhne, of NewClimate Insti- China and India both still have huge coal pipe-
tute, a CAT partner organisation. lines. Southeast Asia is also of concern, with
“But since then, there has been little to no Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea still
improvement: nothing is moving. Governments planning to forge ahead with the most polluting
have now closed the gap by up to 15%, a minimal of fossil fuels.
improvement since May. Anyone would think Gas is still falsely being promoted as a “bridg-
they have all the time in the world, when in fact ing fuel” and needs to be phased out as soon as
the opposite is the case.” possible, yet Australia, the world’s largest gas
The CAT has updated all of the country rat- exporter, is still pouring cash into expanding gas.
ings under its new ratings system. It now gives Even the EU still has plans to commit funding to
ratings on a wide range of actions: an overall new gas infrastructure.
rating, the domestic target, policies and action, “Gas is a fossil fuel, and any investment into
fair share, climate mitigation finance (either on gas today risks becoming a stranded asset. And
providing mitigation finance, or detailing what while interest in green hydrogen has grown
international support is needed), and land use exponentially, there [are] still a large number of
and forestry (where relevant). The CAT has also hydrogen projects in the pipeline where it’s pro-
begun rating net-zero targets. duced from gas. Hydrogen produced from gas
Of the 37 countries assessed by the CAT, only still produces carbon, and is inconsistent with
one – The Gambia – is rated as having overall reaching net zero,” said Hare.™
climate action that is 1.5°C Paris Agreement

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 37 16•September•2021