//…to answer your question... if the uk did it alone, then it would do nothing.//
I completely agree. So let’s have a look at some of the major polluters’ positions (that is, those without whose co-operation little influence on the climate will be noticed) following the jamboree in Glasgow. I’m talking about China, USA, India and Russia. These four between them produce more carbon emissions that all the other countries combined. China alone burns more coal than the rest of the world’s total.
China – their head of state didn’t bother to travel to Glasgow (at least he saved his carbon emissions). China has declined to sign up to the pacts to reduce methane and fossil fuel use. It pushed back at pledges to reduce funding for fossil fuel development. Instead President Xi sent a short note to the conference: “Developed countries not only need to do more in their own countries, but also need to provide support to developing countries in order to help them do better.” This could have been reduced to two words, the second of which is “off”.
The USA – the worlds largest producer and consumer of natural gas, producing 22% of the world’s total. President Biden talks a good talk. He has a number of policies designed to reduce emissions but there is considerable doubt in the USA whether he will be able to get them approved by Congress. As an aside, much of the 250 sq. miles cleared annually of mature forest to fuel Drax power station with processed wood is in the USA.
India – “Unexpectedly” pledged to reduce to net zero by 2070 – two decades beyond the UK’s ambitious but largely unachievable target. So in fifty years, India will have got there – perhaps. And this is an “emergency”.
Russia – the world’s second largest producer of natural gas with 15% of global production. It has recently introduced a “net zero” target date of 2060. Quite how this will be achieved is a little unclear as its energy strategy to 2035, adopted in 2021, focuses almost exclusively on promoting fossil fuel extraction, consumption, and export to the rest of the world.
A few other minor players are worth a mention. As I pointed out yesterday, Australia will continue its extraction of coal and intends, using it and selling it to anybody who will buy it. Germany is the worlds fourth largest consumer of coal – ahead of Russia. It burns six times as much as the UK, most of it imported.
Without concerted action by the top four as a minimum there is absolutely no chance of the rest of the world having any meaningful influence over the climate. Anything that the UK does will simply be virtue signalling. The PM’s strategy is specific – it is to reduce global temperature increases. It is so specific that even a temperature rise upper limit of 1.5 degrees is cited. It will become clear at the end of this week (as if it needed pointing out) that the major polluters are simply not on board to a sufficient degree to enable this target to be met. If a fortnight in Glasgow among 40,000 like-minded souls fails to persuade them, the UK “doing its bit” will certainly not. So it’s back to square one. Whatever the UK does will make no difference and the nations who are able to make a difference show little inclination to do so. So the best use of the UK’s limited funds would be to use them to mitigate the effects of climate change rather than pointlessly trying to prevent it.