Thought For The Day – Thursday 14th December 2023
COP 28: Past, Present and Future
COP 28, where around 200 nations gathered to talk about climate change, its effects, impact and mitigation, has concluded.
The window for action is closing.
The time is now.
Global temperature rises need limited to 1.5C, as agreed at 2015’s COP 21 in Paris.
Currently there are warnings that the world is actually on track for around 2.7C of warming by 2100.
This is about our children, our children’s children, and our children’s children’s children.
It is about the most vulnerable abroad, and at home.
COP 28 concluded yesterday morning U.K. time with an historic deal, at the last minute after debates and discussions through the preceding nights.
“Unite, act and deliver” in a mission to save the planet.
The agreement at COP28 in Dubai was the biggest global climate agreement since Paris 2015. After COP 28, there are global targets by 2030 to triple the capacity of renewable energy like wind and solar power, and to double the rate of energy efficiency improvements. Low-, and zero-.emission technologies, like carbon capture and storage, will be encouraged.
Crucially and historically too, countries agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems…in a just, orderly and equitable manner”. Richer countries are expected to move away from coal, oil and gas more quickly. The world has decided to make this move.
There is critique of this agreement in the sense that it does not compel countries to take action, whilst no timescale is specified. Some nations, including the most vulnerable to climate change, wanted a much more ambitious commitment to completely “phase out” fossil fuels.
The debate at COP 28 was always going to be about not if, or why, but about how much, when and by whom.
All of this is a challenge for it requires us, based on scientific evidence, to selflessly think about the future in a very different way to our relations who selflesslessly thought about our freedom in such challenging situations themselves.
But we can both live in the present, respect the past, and plan for the future.
It is very possible to do all these things and transition to a more balanced, more harmonious, kinder, healthy, brighter and less anxious present and future.
At TBSHS, we will continue to be “Black, Gold and Green”, including this Christmas, in the new year and even more so in the years to come in our new school building and on our new school site.
ITV News report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-ZsnRdDBrk
An agreement has been reached at the United Nations COP28 climate talks to “transition away” from fossil fuels. It is a significant step towards shifting how the world is powered, but questions remain over how soon the change will take place, who will pay for it and a “fatal flaw” in the text which could facilitate further carbon pollution. The …
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Below: Recent front pages of “First News”, a newspaper for students.