What’s the Difference Between a Low-Carbon and Zero-Carbon Future? Survival | The Tyee
The difference between low- and zero-emission economies may seem
insignificant, but will mean additional billions of dollars flowing into
fossil fuel company coffers. A low-carbon economy will allow industry
to continue getting away with further tar sands developments and more
fracked gas and LNG projects, and the pipelines that go with them. With
vast sums of money going into research on lowering emissions intensities
(emissions per barrel of oil, for example), that much less will be
available for zero-carbon energy research.
insignificant, but will mean additional billions of dollars flowing into
fossil fuel company coffers. A low-carbon economy will allow industry
to continue getting away with further tar sands developments and more
fracked gas and LNG projects, and the pipelines that go with them. With
vast sums of money going into research on lowering emissions intensities
(emissions per barrel of oil, for example), that much less will be
available for zero-carbon energy research.
As to which is the correct option, the
scientific answer is clear. Six days after Premier John Horgan and Royal
Dutch Shell announced that the largest private sector project in
Canadian history would proceed, the United Nations Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change issued a special report.
This report, prepared by 90 climate
scientists, assessed the impact of a 1.5-degree Celsius increase in
global temperature compared to the two-degree increase mandated in the Paris Agreement.
The differences are stark: fewer deaths and illnesses, reduced sea
level rises, less habitat and ecosystem destruction, fewer heat waves.
And much more.