RESEARCH
Doom and gloom scenarios, pessimism and hopelessness continue to dominate climate change discourse. However, two recent reports also highlight opportunities and action By Başak Pamir, OPEC Fund
IN SEARCH OF A SILVER LINING
E xtreme weather events and severe phenomena around the globe continue to accumulate in a long list, apocalyptic images occupy our screens on an almost-daily basis and major global climate change efforts result in seemingly disappointing or insufficient outcomes. This leads to increasing skepticism and hopelessness in public perceptions, especially among the young generation. A 10-country survey conducted last year by Bath University, UK suggests that nearly 60 percent of youth feel “very worried” or “extremely worried” about climate change, while three- quarters believe that the future is frightening. Many young participants indicated they perceive that they have no future, humanity is doomed and governments are failing to respond adequately, leaving them feel betrayed, ignored and abandoned. The war in Ukraine and the resulting global energy and food crises have
exacerbated our grim realities as well as the negative perceptions and mood. However there are also significant efforts of coordination and cooperation of action around the globe. Take for example climate change: One glimpse of hope is to be found in a recently published global report. Every year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) launches its landmark World Energy Outlook, shedding light on global energy developments. Based on unique data sets the report provides unmatched outlooks and scenarios. In this year’s World Energy Outlook, presented in the run-up to COP27, one of the most striking findings is that
that the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current energy crisis means that around 75 million people who recently gained access to electricity are likely to lose the ability to pay for it, and 100 million people may revert to the use of traditional biomass for cooking. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol (below) calls this a “global tragedy” and suggests that “the world is facing an unprecedented energy shock”. However, the report also corrects two misperceptions about the energy crisis. Director Birol: “For example, there is a mistaken idea that this is somehow a clean energy crisis. That is simply not true. The world is struggling with too little clean energy, not too much. Faster clean energy transitions would have helped to moderate the impact of this crisis, and they represent the best way out of it. When people
“price and economic pressures mean that the number of people without access to modern energy is rising for the first time in a decade.” The report suggests
Fatih Birol, IEA, Executive Director
32
Powered by FlippingBook