Dr. Conca reports that something did happen in Paris .... every country agreed to come up with a carbon reduction plan via their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), and to review it every five years. But even more important is that the rich countries also agreed to help poor countries achieve these goals by providing $100 billion a year, and possibly providing loan guarantees to help with financing. This latter point is actually the most important, and could provide trillions of dollars in virtual climate aid over the next decade.
As an example, in India, the interest rate for a loan to construct a wind farm is about 16%. With an EU loan guarantee, that rate drops to about 4%. Smart global financing is the difference between accomplishing these climate goals and not accomplishing these climate goals.
To limit the rise in global mean temperatures to 2 degrees C, the global power sector will need to be virtually de-carbonized by mid-century. The only way to do this is with a mix of technologies including nuclear and renewables. But after a decade of intense promotion, tax incentives and investment, wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass altogether are still only 2%, and together avoid only 0.1 billion metric tons of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere each year.
Even more persuasive, the top four climate scientists in the world, Dr. James Hansen, Dr. Tom Wigley, Dr. Ken Caldeira and Dr. Kerry Emanuel, issued a stark challenge about nuclear energy to world leaders and environmental campaigners at a COP21 press conference on December 3. They declared that the anti-nuclear position of adversaries is causing unnecessary and severe harm to the environment and to our planet future.
Dr. Conca emphasizes that to ignore the leading climate scientists at the leading climate conference is foolish. And stupid. And risky.
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