Anyone seeing the images of burning forests, raging floods destroying lands and villages, and massive landslides burying homes and people, have no reason to deny the truth. The latest United Nations report on the climate crises by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], signed by 159 nations, once again informs us that we humans are responsible for this terrible crisis.
We are bringing disaster upon ourselves by tolerating and allowing—through corrupt politicians—coal, oil and gas energy companies to promote the extraction and continual burning of fossil fuels. By financially supporting the election campaigns of friendly politicians, they receive massive government subsidies to continue this practice.
In the United States, fossil fuel subsidies for the energy industry are massive while money for renewable energy is much less. This is also the case worldwide.
As much as US$447 billion [$3.47 trillion] in taxpayers’ money has been paid out in subsidies to billion-dollar companies in the coal, oil and gas industries since 2014 whereas support for renewable energy sources development totalled a mere US$128 billion [$996,46 billion].
The International Renewable Energy Agency [IRENA] says: “… the continued imbalance remains staggering. In 2017, the costs of unpriced externalities and the direct subsidies for fossil fuels [USD 3.1 trillion] exceeded subsidies for renewable energy by a factor of 19” [https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2020/Apr/IRENA_Energy_subsidies_2020.pdf].
We have reached and passed the tipping point; melted Arctic ice and mountain glaciers will take hundreds of years to freeze up again. So, the poor people in coastal towns and villages, along with low-lying Pacific islands and atolls will have to evacuate and migrate. Some are already doing so
The global warming, seen in unequalled temperatures that have engulfed the world, is due to one reason: the burning of fossil fuels. Coal, oil and gas have been essential for economic growth and development for the last 100 years. But now, it must stop. CO2 and methane gasses are trapping the heat of the sun like a blanket around the globe and we are slowly cooking ourselves, and all living creatures and plants, to death. Over a million animals and reptiles died in Australian fires last year alone. How many more this year in the US, European Union and Russia?
Renewable carbon-neutral sources of energy have to be speedily expanded: geothermal, wind turbines, solar panels, wave and tide power. These will generate electricity to drive industry, to heat and cool homes, and to power electric vehicles without damaging the planet. But will it succeed in time to save the planet?
Scientists and environmentalists and the IPCC tell us the terrible truth that, if the warming rises beyond 1.5 degrees centigrade, there will be even worse climate-induced disasters. More droughts, fires, greater floods, and crop failures. Millions will be displaced by violence and war over water, food and arable land. Millions of hungry desperate people will be migrating to safer countries for food and survival.
We have reached and passed the tipping point; melted Arctic ice and mountain glaciers will take hundreds of years to freeze up again. So, the poor people in coastal towns and villages, along with low-lying Pacific islands and atolls will have to evacuate and migrate. Some are already doing so.
They are the victims and yet they have not caused any global warming. Meanwhile, the health costs worldwide of the damaging pollution since 2017 is a whopping US$2.263 billion [$17.617 billion], according to IRENA.
Some Philippine islands in the South China Sea may have be evacuated as they could be inundated in a few more years.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
https://www.Facebook.com/CFM-Gifted-to-give-101039001847033
The world’s biggest producers of greenhouse gasses, CO2 and methane, with thousands of coal-fired power plants, are China and the United States. The Philippines has it share of coal-fired power plants when it could, instead, have geothermal a nd solar power plants.
If you want the number of dollars spent on renewable energy power sources, here they are: “[IRENA] has estimated supply-side support to renewables at around US$166 billion [$1.29 trillion] in 2017. Total support to renewable power generation was around US$128 billion [$996.46 billion] in 2017, and transport sector support added a further US$38 billion [$295.82 trillion] for biofuels.”
The IRENA report noted: “The European Union accounted for around 54 per cent [US$90 billion ($700.64 billion)] of total estimated renewable subsidies in 2017, followed by the United States, with 14 per cent [US$23 billion ($179 billion)], Japan with 11 per cent [US$19 billion ($147.91 billion)], India with two per cent [US$4 billion ($31.14 billion)] and the rest of the world with slightly less than nine per cent [US$15 billion ($116.77 billion)]. Subsidies for renewable power generation were dominant in Japan [99 per cent], China [97 per cent], the EU [87 per cent] and India [76 per cent]. Subsidies for biofuels dominated in the United States [61 per cent] and the rest of the world [71 per cent].”
Big oil corporations such as Shell, BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Total, together with their lobbying groups, have tried to influence EU law in their favour by watering down legislation that would curb the extraction and burning of fossil fuels.
They are ferocious influencers and a report in The Guardian shows that they spent €253.3 million [$2.32 billion] lobbying and influencing politicians and EU institutions between 2010 and 2018, according to a report by Corporate Europe Observatory, Food & Water Europe, Friends of the Earth Europe and Greenpeace.
It seems that there is a conspiracy to deny climate change, to play down the urgency of the crises for the sake of getting more taxpayer dollars as payouts to billionaire oil companies when millions of people are suffering the drastic effects of the climate change.
That is just the tip of a massive iceberg of additional spending that has not been officially reported and kept secret. Let me quote the impact they have had in expanding the climate crises on the world. The Guardian article of one year ago says:
“The report comes after the Guardian’s Polluters series, which revealed that 20 oil and gas companies—including BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Total—can be directly linked to a third of greenhouse gas emissions since 1965. The companies—which include multinationals and state-owned firm—are continuing to expand their operations and driving the climate emergency, despite having been aware for decades of their industry’s devastating impact on the planet.”
It seems that there is a conspiracy to deny climate change, to play down the urgency of the crises for the sake of getting more taxpayer dollars as payouts to billionaire oil companies when millions of people are suffering the drastic effects of the climate change.
We have to do all we can to get political and influence the decisions that will save the planet and get out there and stop polluting and plant more trees.
Father Shay Cullen
www.preda.org
