Essay by Eric Worrall
According to the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the “energy privileges” of countries like the United States will have to be “wiped out” to save the world from climate change.
Reducing global inequality in the use of energy needed to stop climate change
Date: July 7, 2022
Source: Universitat Autonoma de BarcelonaSummary: A new study suggests that existing climate mitigation scenarios will perpetuate inequalities in energy use between the Global North and the Global South into the future. These scenarios are detrimental to the Global South and are therefore politically unresolvable, the study’s authors argue.
A new ICTA-UAB study shows that existing climate mitigation scenarios will perpetuate inequalities in energy use between the Global North and the Global South in the future. These scenarios are detrimental to the Global South and therefore politically unresolvable.
An energy transition that keeps global warming just below 1.5 or 2°C requires the wealthy nations of the North to reduce their energy use to sustainable consumption, while while allowing sufficient energy use growth in the rest of the world.
This is the conclusion of a scientific study by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universidad Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), conducted by researchers Jason Hickel and Aljoša Slameršak and published today. in Lancet Planet Health, in which they called for the development of new climate mitigation scenarios aimed at achieving energy convergence between the Global North and the Global South, and thus gradually erase the energy privileges of rich countries.
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Aljoša Slameršak emphasizes: “Much of this excess energy is consumed by forms of production that support corporate profits and the accumulation of the elite, such as fast fashion, sport utility vehicles, meat. industrial and obsolete, unrelated to welfare,” stressed Aljoša Slameršak.
In the analyzed situations, The countries of Africa and the Middle East are believed to have limited energy use at their current levels for most of the century, i.e. less than 30 gigajoules per capita per year. In contrast, the OECD countries and the rest of Europe experienced an average energy allocation in excess of 100 gigajoules per capita per year for the rest of the century. Although Latin America and Asia have seen increases in energy use, their energy consumption will be only half that of the countries in the Global North by 2100. .
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Read more: https://www.sciricalaily.com/releases/2022/07/220707100922.htm
The scholars do not describe how they plan to persuade rich countries to give up their energy privileges, although following the silly antics of rich country leaders over the past few years, they may think that rich countries are on track to give up their “energy privileges” without further assistance.
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