historical responsibility

Carbon Tunnel Vision (Carbon Neutrality, Net Zero) Is Seriously Hampering Comprehensive Climate Action & Social Transformation To Sustainable Development !

Posted by CJ Walsh

2025-03-25:  The right picture can paint a thousand words …

Click to enlarge.

… but this picture omits some other words … currently very important :  Proxy Wars; Destruction of International Law; West’s Hypocrisy and Double Standards; Imperialism; Colonialism; Historical Responsibility; Apartheid; Genocide; Rampant Global Waste Production; and Environmentally Damaging Disposal of Toxic Wastes; etc., etc., etc.

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And What, For Example, Does ‘Net Zero’ Actually Mean ?

In recent years … this concept has increasingly appeared – zombie like – in more and more policy documents, corporate reports, climate legislation, building codes, design manuals, etc., etc.   Some people understand it, many others do not.

Is this the best strategy, or even a good strategy ??   I don’t think so …

Graphic Image, in colour, showing a range of Climate Disruption Mitigation Strategies (not scenarios !). Far too many policy and decision makers understand 'net zero' to mean Net-Zero CO2 ... confined solely to Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions. Refer, for example, to the International Energy Agency (IEA) Report: 'Net Zero Roadmap (2023 Update)'. Click to enlarge.
Graphic Image, in colour, showing a range of Climate Disruption Mitigation Strategies (not scenarios !).  Far too many policy and decision makers understand ‘net zero’ to mean Net-Zero CO2 … confined solely to Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions.  Refer, for example, to the International Energy Agency (#IEA) Report: ‘Net Zero Roadmap (2023 Update)’.  Click to enlarge.

Net Zero CO2 excludes from Climate Measurements and Climate Action Planning & Implementation all of the many other GreenHouse Gases.

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What are the REAL Whole-GHG Performance Numbers … as actually measured, not calculated … including all major GreenHouse Gases ?

Refer to the Annual U.N. World Meteorological Organization (#WMO) GreenHouse Gas Bulletins … the latest of which was published on 28 October 2024 … and makes very depressing reading.  Pages 1 and 3 (of 11) from the recent Bulletin No.20 …

Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.

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CLIMATE TRACE, GHG Emissions & Related Air Pollutants

Climate Trace ( https://www.climatetrace.org )

Most human economic activities release GreenHouse Gases (GHG’s) into the Earth’s atmosphere.  Climate Trace uses satellites and other remote sensing technologies to observe those activities.

Climate Trace makes comprehensive climate action faster and easier by mobilizing the global technology community to track GreenHouse Gas Emissions with unprecedented detail and speed.  This data is provided freely to the public.

The States & Regions Remote Sensing Project (#STARRS) illustrates the value of collaboration in generating independent GreenHouse Gas Emissions data.

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Climate Trace – 14 November 2024

Climate Trace Data Reveals High-Impact Opportunities For Cutting GreenHouse Gas Emissions

For the first time, Climate Trace’s latest inventory provides monthly emissions data for every country and every major individual source of emissions in the world.  In addition, Climate Trace has now compiled monthly emissions inventories for every state and province, every county, and more than 9,000 major urban areas around the world, providing sub-national governments with critical information to accelerate climate action.

Prior to this, 80% of the world’s cities did not have access to a comprehensive inventory of their GreenHouse Gas (GHG) Emissions and those of their surrounding urban areas.  Now they do.  These urban areas account for 17 Billion Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2e), or more than 25% of Global Emissions.

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Climate Trace – 18 December 2024

Understanding Major GHG Related Air Pollutants

Since the first data release in 2021, Climate Trace has tracked the major GreenHouse Gas (GHG) Emissions – Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), and Nitrous Oxide (N2O) – providing a powerful tool for accelerating meaningful climate action.  As of the November 2024 data release, key Non-GHG Air Pollutants are covered for the world’s largest sources of emissions … including pollutants which are implicated in millions of deaths around the world every year …

Carbon Monoxide (CO) – Organic Carbon (OC) – Black Carbon (BC)

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) – Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) – Particulate Matter (PM2.5)

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) – Ammonia (NH3)

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly the entire global population (99%) breathes air with pollutant levels above its guidelines … with the highest exposures in low and middle-income countries.  Many of these pollutants are released alongside GHG’s from sources like fossil fuel combustion.  This article takes a closer look at the eight major Non-GHG Co-Pollutants Climate Trace now tracks, including where they come from and how they threaten human health.

GHG Related Air Pollutants pose a clear threat to human health.  Yet until now, the world has lacked current and relevant globally available data.  This data is urgently needed to better characterize the sources of pollutants, and to develop effective mitigation policies.  By understanding the relationship between greenhouse gas sources and their impact on human health, comprehensive strategies can be produced which address both climate disruption and public health concerns.

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CLIMATE DISRUPTION > More Severe Wildfires > Serious Regional Air Quality Degradation

CBC Canada News Article – 20 March 2024

After An Epic Year Of Wildfires, Canada’s Air Isn’t As Clean As It Used To Be

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OPEN AIR QUALITY DATA

Clean Air Fund – 13 February 2025

5 Projects Enhancing Open Data For Clean Air

Air Quality Data is primarily collected through monitoring stations equipped with devices and sensors that measure pollutants like Particulate Matter (PM2.5 & PM10), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), and Ozone (O3).  While higher income countries tend to boast extensive networks of monitoring stations, many lower income nations don’t have the necessary infrastructure or resources for comprehensive monitoring.

Often when Data is collected, it is not publicly available due to governmental restrictions, bureaucratic hurdles, or a lack of technological platforms for sharing the information.

Data is often fragmented or stored in formats that are not user-friendly, making it difficult for researchers, policymakers and the public to access or understand the information.  This significant barrier means the extent of air pollution’s impact on the health of communities isn’t understood.

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#Sustainability #Resilience #Reality #ClimateDisruption #ClimateSynergies #ClimateTippingPoints #InternationalLaw #ClimateTrace #GHGemissions #GreenHouseGases #GHGrelatedAirPollutants #Wildfires #HumanHealth #CarbonMonoxide #OrganicCarbon #BlackCarbon #VolatileOrganicCompounds #SulphurDioxide #ParticulateMatter #NitrogenOxides #Ammonia #CarbonTunnelVision #CarbonNeutrality #NetZero #Canada #UN #ICJ #ICC #SIA #SustainabilityImpactAssessment #FeuxDeForêt #Bushfires #IncendiBoschivi #IncendiosForestales #OrmanYangınları #IncêndiosFlorestais #ExtremeHeatwaves #ExtremeDroughts #Poverty #BiodiversityLoss #OverConsumption #ProxyWars #Imperialism #Colonialism #HistoricalResponsibility #Apartheid #Genocide #EthnicCleansing #CleanAir #Ozone #AirQuality

FCCC COP-15: Historical Responsibility & Poverty Reduction ?

Posted by CJ Walsh

2009-12-16:  ‘Chaotic’ is not the only word to describe what is happening right now in Copenhagen !   A few additional parliamentary expletives are required.  Is it just me … or is it obvious to everyone … that the Danes could not organize an orgy at an International Golf Tournament ?

What the world urgently needed was an ambitious, legally binding agreement … a Kyoto II Protocol, for want of a better title … to slot into place when the 1st Commitment Period ends in 2012.  What we may end up with is an ambiguous ‘political’ agreement … which will be worth approximately 1 cent more than the paper on which it will be scrawled.

There is something definitely rotten in the State of Denmark !   Multiple drafts of the same working document circulating at the same time … backroom meetings away from public scrutiny … greedy developed countries trying to avoid responsibility and action … strutting, self-important NGO’s thinking that they know all the answers … etc., etc … kill any confidence in the process stone dead.  These are not the ways of Sustainable Social Partnership.

However … at a far distance from the hustle and bustle … it can be observed that Interesting Side Events are taking place … and Thought Provoking Reports are being presented … before, during and after the main gatherings between the 7th and 18th December 2009:

  • 15th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ;
  • 5th Meeting of the Parties (MOP-5) to the Kyoto Protocol.

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African Countries are not the only Group having difficulty with what is/is not happening in Copenhagen …

Two recent Discussion Papers from The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI), in India, are worth bringing to your attention.  Both raise issues which are not very popular in this part of the world.  And … it so happens that Dr. Rajendra K Pachauri – Director-General of TERI … is also Chairman of the WMO-UNEP Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) !

  1. Right to Sustainable Development: An Ethical Approach to Climate Change (December 2009), by Leena Srivastava, Neha Pahuja, Manish Shrivastava & Prabhat Upadhyay.  PDF File, 228 Kb.  Click link to read and/or download.  Discusses ideas such as: ‘equity’, ‘fairness’, ‘historical responsibility’ (of UNFCCC Annex I Countries), ‘climate justice’, etc.
  2. Linking Climate Action & Poverty Alleviation – An Approach to Informed Decision-Making (December 2009), by Atul Kumar.  PDF File, 488 Kb.  Click link to read and/or download.

Notes:

To gain worldwide acceptance – across developed, developing and least developed regions of the world – and to have a reasonable chance of reliable implementation in those disparate regions … mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change, including variability and extremes, must be fully compatible with the concept of Sustainable Human & Social Development.  This is clearly elaborated in both the 1992 UNFCCC and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

To be clear among ourselves on this island … Ireland is specifically named (without any qualification), among other Developed Countries … in Annex I and Annex II of the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) … and in Annex B of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which is legally binding.  The European Union is not mentioned, at all, in either document.

It is of concern to note that although India ratified the 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in October 2007 – TERI (India) has very recently placed a Document (No.1 above) in the public domain, at Copenhagen, which actively forbids content extraction by people with activity limitations for the purposes of equitable accessibility !   Joined-up thinking !?!?

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