COP-18 Meetings in Qatar on Global Climate Change

I just participated in a real-time webinar, a live broadcast from the COP-18 meetings in Doha, Qatar.  Here are my notes:

• In the past few years, over 30,000 peer-reviewed papers have been published on global climate change, only 24 of which challenged the notion that human activity is causing this phenomenon.

• We have seen substantial progress in renewable energy.  In 2006, only 3.5% of the world’s energy came from renewable resources; now that figure is 20%.

• We can and must embrace a low-carbon economy, putting people to work in building and deploying solutions in energy efficiency, clean energy, alternate fuel transportation, etc.  Certain industrial giants, e.g., GE and Siemens, are actively embracing this change.

• The world needs a vision of a future in which we consume 0% fossil fuels. 

• In order to make progress in this direction, we need policy stability.  The countries that have been most effective here, Germany and China, have this stability at the national level.  Our leaders need to establish a permanent set of policies, perhaps a carbon tax and certain incentives, so that investors can have confidence that the rug will not be pulled out from under them.  As one panelist said, “We need a clear signal, and it needs to be long, loud, and legal.”

• Such a concept is bitterly opposed, not by the business community at large (many sectors of which would love to see this come into place) but by the fossil fuels companies who are extremely powerful.

• In addition to scaring off investors, this constantly changing political environment creates high transaction costs for renewable energy in the U.S., making it financially noncompetitive.   By contrast, Germany, where renewables have become such a standard part of the economy, the cost of wind and solar projects is far lower, as all the issues with legal agreements, permitting, etc. have been made routine.

Not sure any of this is “new news,” but I thought I’d share it anyway.