Page 192 - CW E-Magazine (25-6-2024)

Special Report

Azerbaijan climate meet must focus on population

reduction

he next global climate meet quent meetings of the Conference of N.S. VENKATARAMAN
(COP 29) is scheduled to take Parties, several countries promised to Director
Tplace in Azerbaijan in November, curb emissions and achieve net zero Nandini Consultancy Centre
2024. While global climate meetings emission levels, with varying time- Chennai - 600 090
have taken place 28 times so far in diffe- frames indicated. While targets have Email: nsvenkatchennai@gmail.com
rent countries, these have been marked been fi xed, nothing worthwhile has In such situation, what is the way out
by much fanfare, tall talk, impressive happened so far to reduce actual con- to combat the climate change threat?
targets and some action plans, parti- sumption of fossil fuel.. On the other
cularly with regard to funding by deve- hand, production and use of coal and Focus on the population issue
loped countries for less developed ones. crude oil have been rising. The only way seems to be to gradu-
ally and steadily reduce the global
Rising global temperature The major producers of crude oil, population, which would contribute to
However, the ground reality is that such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, USA and reduction in energy consumption.
in spite of such deliberations and action others, are unwilling to reduce their pro-
plans, global temperatures continue duction, as they claim that this would In 1960, the world population was
to increase. As a result, erratic climatic adversely impact their national econo- 3.3-billion, which increased to 6.15-bil-
and weather conditions are being wit- mies. Similarly, the major countries lion in 2000 and further to 7.97-billion
nessed in several parts of the world. using coal and crude oil – like India, China, in 2022, at an average annual growth
It is now predicted by the World Indonesia, etc. – are unwilling to reduce rate of 1.6%. According to several stu-
Meteorological Organisation (WMO) that their consumption, claiming that would dies, at the present level of population
the global mean near-surface tempera- affect their economic growth. The net growth, the world population would be
ture for each year between 2024 and result is that neither producers nor con- as high as around 10-billion by 2060.
2028 will be between 1.1°C and 1.5°C sumers of crude oil and coal are willing Such population growth will create
higher than the average over the years to depart from their present positions. In result in sizeable increase in consump-
from 1850 to 1900. Such fi gures send other words, the promises to achieve zero tion of fossil fuels, and hence carbon
alarming signals that the world should emission by curbing production and con- emissions, leading to a steep rise in
be concerned about. sumption of fossil fuel sound hollow. global temperatures.

Need to reduce consumption of fossil fuels Other energy & feedstock options While technological efforts to iden-
There is universal agreement that There are alternative eco-friendly tify and promote eco-friendly energy
the increasing emissions of carbon options to substitute use of fossil fuel sources should continue, the only way
dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide for energy and feedstock use. These out is to curb population growth. Global
and methane are the primary reasons for include use of green hydrogen, genera- population reduction targets should
global warming. Emission of these gases tion of renewable power (solar, wind be fi xed and over-populated develop-
happen due to the use of fossil fuels and hydropower), and use of biofuels, ing countries should be fi rmly asked
such as coal and crude oil, and methane and nuclear energy. But these have to reduce population growth. Possibly,
emissions from livestock and crop lands limitations inadequate to substitute the developed countries can provide tech-
(such as fl ooded paddy cultivation that fossil fuel usage in a large way. nological and fi nancial support to over-
produce emissions through the decom- populated developing ones in this. To
position of organic materials). The In the case of green hydrogen, there ensure that the Azerbaijan climate meet
essential requirement is that consump- are issues with regard to production does not become a routine exercise, as
tion and production of fossil fuels have costs due to various factors. Further- has happened to earlier meetings, parti-
to be brought down signifi cantly and more, the requirement of green hydro- cipants should take the bull by the
immediately. This is not happening. gen to substitute use of fossil fuel is horns and arrive at a population reduc-
so large that availability of renewable tion target for the world. This is the
Tall targets and little progress power to produce green hydrogen will ultimate solution to check emission levels
In the Paris, Glasgow and subse- be a serious constraint. and prevent a global climate crisis!

192 Chemical Weekly June 25, 2024

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