A Willingness to Act
5 years, 7 months, 28 days, 21 hours
24 November 2023
As we approach the endgame of COP28, let's reflect on the stark and worrying headlines of the latest EBRD Transition Report.
75% of people recognise climate change will seriously affect today’s children, 70% are concerned about the consequences, but only 40% are willing to act to do anything about it. 30% are completely disengaged from the conversation.
The survey coverage is not the whole world but EBRD countries (a mostly poorer countries swathe of Eurasia), but those interested enough to seek out chart 3.1 in the report will be shocked to see where Germany lies in the ranking. I also worry that the phrasing of the questions about whether individuals are prepared to act perpetuates the message that acting comes at a personal financial cost, and doesn’t suggest there are personal savings and benefits to be had, for example from lower bills for renewable energy supply.
There is lot of good stuff in the report but the other part I found especially interesting is on critical raw materials (Chapter 2). There is a lot of data and analysis presented, but personally I found it concerning that the entire narrative is around the geopolitical risk of the concentration of resources in particular countries. There is a small paragraph on environmental and social impacts of extraction. But otherwise the entire presentation appears founded on the assumption that the demand for these materials is exogenous, and has to be met, in the worthy cause of energy transition.
It feels like we are about to lurch from frying pan to fire, defaulting to another extract and consume and discard bonanza, rather than trying to think more intelligently about how to minimise the extraction in the first place. Nowhere in the report, nor in the panel discussion about it, did anyone speak of managing demand, despite the fact Europe showed last winter a remarkable ability to lower energy demand in the face of the supply constraints and cost rises following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And when I asked about recycling the representative of a an automotive manufacturer breezily said yes of course the batteries could be recycled. If we are serious about sustainability, should we not be demanding that producers take responsibility for the recycling of their own products, not just assume that someone else might do it?
Photo credit: UN Climate Change COP28 / Anthony Fleyhan