Fossil fuels to become history

By Boaz Opio

The gigantic world oil wealth is finally seeing red light, a sign of burning need for better inventions in the areas of "clean technologies" if our planet is to survive the pandemic shocks of climate change.

More research will be needed in alternative energy sources and this is more crucial at this time than ever in the history. If the United Nations Framework Convention Conference of parties (UNFCC COP21) scheduled for December 2015 is to realize its intention of zeroing global carbon emissions by 2050, massive investments called upon of every country in the fields of productions using renewable energy sources.

 Already, countries like Costa Rica, the Marshall Islands and Samoa have committed to reduce carbon emissions to zero by the year 2020.

These dedications requires these countries to employ dramatic short term goals in expanding and developing production capacity in alternative power generation such as solar, wind energy and biomass while at the same time maintaining integrity, not letting any chance for further growth of fossil fuel businesses.

The objective of a global agreement in Paris at the Conference to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) is to contain the rise in average global temperature to a maximum of 2° Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

It is upon these very movements that the US President, Barrack Obama, recently announced America’s plans to cut carbon emissions by 32% in the next 15 years."We are the last regeneration to tackle the impact of global warming", he uttered the plans out, though against tough opposition from the major carbon emitters of coal mines. Reasonably, climate change is going to require such ambitious movements by all countries in the world. Of all 56 counties who have submitted their INDCS, i.e. how they intent to reduce carbon emissions towards combating global warming, ambition the above type of ambition is again discernible in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s undertaking. The country with only 18% of its people connected to electricity is inexplicably intending to ‘have a Green economy by 2060’.

Whereas Ghana has received a special recognition from the European Union, for her excellent movements towards fulfillment of the Paris requirements, the state of play of international climate negotiations and Ghana's preparation to Paris has been noteworthy. It is highly hoped that the country’s INDCs will include how they intend to promote the decline of fossil fuel consumption. On the other hand, it remains mocking that only 56 countries have announced their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions.

Uganda, among the sub-Saharan African countries whose skyrocketing population is speeding up the impacts of climate change, is among those who haven't either declared how their objectives in cutting carbon: if history is to repeat it self, then past experiences with important national programmes seldom succeed not only in Uganda, but in many African countries. Few years ago, an ambitious project was funded by ant-climate change organisations focusing on planting more trees across the country using slogans like "Tree per head", "Cut one, plant ten". Today, the signs that such programs ever lived is only traceable in the dusty files.

With highly priced, yet limited hydro electricity coverage of only 30% of the population, trees and environment suffer degradation, escalating the impacts of climate change, not only upon humans but to all members of the biosphere.

From increased deaths resulting from over exposure to high temperatures, to increased illnesses resulting from inhaling dangerous pollutants such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and heavy metals like mercury, World Health Organization estimates death toll resulting from pollution to override any other. This justifies earlier claims that climate change is the single biggest Heath threat of the 21st century.

World's lading climate scientists generally agree that if the world is to reduce global temperatures below two degrees Celsius, phasing out fossil fuel is the answer as burning fossil fuel is held liable for increasing temperatures strengthening El Niño current in the Pacific, which in turn raises ocean temperatures, melting ice and resulting to increased flooding as sea levels rise. This threatens the whole earth to be submerged by water, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), believes. Further joint findings by NASA, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) and the UK Met office all agree that July 2015 was the hottest month in recorded history since the records began more than 138 years ago.

Professor James Hassan, a veteran researcher at Columbia University in New York and former director of NASA's Goddard Institute for space studies by the same token noted that if the world does not cut carbon emissions, resulting from burning of fossil fuels, the situation is deemed to cross irreversible thresholds over the next few years.

The international Conference of Parties (COP21) will thus make a binding agreement on ways to speed up individual countries energy policies with a long term goal that will render non renewable energy sources dubious, historical, and harmful by 2050, making it a sure deal that the world makes significant transformations advancement to catch up with new demands and challenges of this century.

Momentous signs of electric cars are showing up already. London plans to put 3000 electric cars on roads by 2018 as cars running on an electric charge is said to produce fewer emissions than their gas-guzzling cousins.

There is an alarming call that by 2050, rather than driving to a petrol stations, we should be diving towards charging points, or not hoping to charge or fuel at all as strong solar panel on the roof above generates more than enough power.  While the grandma in the countryside must neither cut down tress for her cooking fuel, nor think of charcoal, but is rather supplied with efficient and cheap electricity. By these will natural environment blossom from horizon to horizon improving people’s lives positively. The dream of saving the planet comes alive.

The writer is an environmentalist