{"id":10130,"date":"2024-11-20T11:41:35","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T11:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/?p=10130"},"modified":"2024-11-20T11:41:35","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T11:41:35","slug":"cop29-climate-change-or-climate-procrastination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/2024\/11\/20\/cop29-climate-change-or-climate-procrastination\/","title":{"rendered":"COP29: climate change or climate procrastination?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Natalia Slobodian asks if the latest gathering of leaders and governments at COP29 is really going to make the difference.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

As COP29 kicks off, it\u2019s becoming increasingly clear that the world might be running out of time to address the climate crisis effectively. While the conference is meant to drive urgent climate action, the reality is that it\u2019s starting to feel more like a meeting of procrastinators, each pushing for incremental changes instead of the drastic measures needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A race we are losing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2030, we\u2019re expected to achieve several key milestones to prevent catastrophic global warming. These targets were set years ago, with commitments from governments, finance giants, and major industries. Yet, the data tells a different story. Last year, carbon emissions hit a record high<\/a> instead of declining, signalling that reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 will be slower, harder, and much more expensive than anticipated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even before the election of Donald Trump for the first time in 2016, which saw him roll back multiple environmental policies, progress was already too slow. Now, the effects of climate inaction are being felt globally, with extreme weather events putting millions at risk and threatening economic stability. A recent study suggests that a 1\u00b0C increase in global temperatures could slash global GDP by up to 12%.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tech giants: ambition vs reality<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big tech companies like Google, Meta, and Microsoft have made bold promises to cut their emissions to zero by 2030. However, the surge in artificial intelligence (AI) development has had an unintended consequence \u2014 skyrocketing energy consumption. Data centers are now guzzling power at record rates, pushing emissions even higher. Google\u2019s<\/a> emissions, for instance, have jumped by two-thirds compared to 2020, while Meta<\/a> has reported a 64% increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Microsoft<\/a>, despite its public commitment to sustainability, saw a 40% rise in its carbon footprint over the past three years. And while Amazon<\/a> claims to have reduced its emissions recently, questions have arisen about the transparency of its renewable energy reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To meet their climate pledges, tech giants are exploring new energy sources, including nuclear power. Microsoft\u2019s partnership with Constellation Energy<\/a> to restart a nuclear plant in Pennsylvania is just one example of the drastic steps companies are taking. Meanwhile, solar panels now cover former golf courses in Japan<\/a>, powering Google\u2019s data centers, and massive solar fields are springing up across Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clock is ticking<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With just five years left before the first climate deadline of 2030, the question remains: are we truly moving forward, or are we just talking about it? COP29 might be our last chance to push beyond the rhetoric and take the kind of urgent, transformative action the planet so desperately needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we don\u2019t, we risk making COP nothing more than a networking event for climate procrastinators, and the price of delay could be catastrophic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natalia Slobodian is Research Fellow in the\u00a0Faculty of Science, Engineering and Social Sciences,<\/a>\u00a0at Canterbury Christ Church University.\u00a0Her expertise focuses on sustainability development in the energy sector.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This blog was first published on the CCCU Expert Comment blog on 18 November 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo by Matthew TenBruggencate<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Natalia Slobodian asks if the latest gathering of leaders and governments at COP29 is really going to make the difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4437,"featured_media":10134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,25],"tags":[2766,2770,2382],"class_list":["post-10130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-research","tag-cop","tag-natalia-slobodian","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"authorName":"Laura Cashman","featuredImage":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/645\/2024\/11\/matthew-tenbruggencate-wxLQk3DAFro-unsplash.jpg","postExcerpt":"Natalia Slobodian asks if the latest gathering of leaders and governments at COP29 is really going to make the difference.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10138,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10130\/revisions\/10138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}