Smoke billows from the chimneys of Belchatow Energy Station, Europe’s greatest coal-fired energy plant, on this Might 7, 2009, picture.
Peter Andrews | Reuters
The pinnacle of the United Nations Improvement Programme informed CNBC that $423 billion of taxpayers’ cash is being spent on subsidizing fossil gasoline use annually, and is stopping a transition towards cleaner power.
Talking across the launch of its new marketing campaign, “Do not Select Extinction,” UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner stated he was “very anxious” that we’re in a “historic second in time” with all of the means to deal with local weather change, however not taking the selections essential to make it occur.
The brand new UNDP marketing campaign towards fossil gasoline subsidies sees a dinosaur, voiced by world stars in varied languages together with Jack Black, Eiza Gonzalez, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Aïssa Maïga, addressing the United Nations in New York, urging the world to not make decisions that would make them comply with dinosaurs into extinction.
“There is a component of humor and journey in there, however actually it’s to hold a really very important message to a really broad viewers,” Steiner stated.
“It’s meant to curiosity younger individuals, outdated individuals, individuals who suppose that they don’t have anything to do with this and but they’re a part of that fossil gasoline economic system that’s taking us to the brink of some extent of no return additionally by way of local weather change,” he added.
Steiner stated that spending $423 billion a 12 months on fossil gasoline subsidies is just not an efficient use of taxpayers’ cash. He added that they’re usually justified to make sure power is cheaper for poorer individuals.
“However truly, while you have a look at the statistics the fascinating actuality is that it’s one thing that really advantages, actually, the wealthier elements of society as a result of they’re disproportionately bigger customers of power,” Steiner stated.
“So, in the event you’re considering serving to poorer individuals to have entry to power, to gasoline, there are rather more environment friendly methods of doing that and also you needn’t distort a complete economic system by way of the way in which we presently make fossil fuels artificially cheaper to make use of,” he stated.
A latest U.N. report discovered that governments had been on monitor to produce more than twice the levels of fossil fuels in 2030 than can be wanted to maintain rising world temperatures to beneath 1.5 levels Celsius above pre-industrial ranges.
Requested how this may be circled, Steiner informed CNBC: “Effectively, many economists basically agree that in the event you had been to introduce a carbon worth that displays the true price of utilizing that fossil gasoline in our economies as we speak, you’d truly in a short time create a market whereby producers but additionally customers of fossil fuels, would truly transfer out of this sector.”
“And actually, after we have a look at the worldwide power economic system, we’ve got already begun an power revolution. Within the final couple of years alone, there may be extra invested in new renewable power infrastructure, and subsequently invested within the development and bringing it on stream, than in oil, gasoline, coal, and nuclear mixed,” he added.
However Steiner stated he’s “very anxious” that we’re nonetheless shifting too slowly.
“The tragedy of this might be that my kids, the subsequent era, will now not have the choice as a result of it’s going to have moved past that time of no return. As a result of as soon as we’re set on a pathway above 1.5, after which 2 levels, it’s going to take 100 years or 200 years to have the ability to reverse that,” he stated.
“And that’s, in essence, the historic second in time through which we discover ourselves when, basically having all of the means to deal with local weather change, however not discovering it inside ourselves to take the selections which can be essential to make this doable,” he added.
