A lot of countries and companies have set targets for eliminating their contributions to climate change, but prefaced by the term “net zero.” I looked into what this actually means and whether it leads to meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Save the Trees, Save Ourselves
Fighting climate change isn’t all about wind turbines and electric cars; protecting and restoring nature is a key component of reducing greenhouse gas emssions. Ecosystems like forests take in and store huge amounts of carbon. The question is whether countries can come up with a way to encourage people to keep nature as it is.
Fire in the Forest
Brazil has experienced a major surge in deforestation and fires this year in the Amazon rainforest. The forest almost never burns on its own so the vast majority of fires are caused by humans. I wrote about some of the economic and political forces that have led to this upswing in burning this summer.
Conscious Decoupling
A new report from the International Energy Agency has found that global carbon emissions from energy have stayed flat while economies have grown. Some analysts take this to mean that economic growth and carbon pollution are no longer linked.
However, others note that energy is not the only source of greenhouse gases -- agriculture and transportation are major emitters -- and that low natural gas prices in the United States have displaced dirtier coal, a feat other countries cannot replicate as easily.
A coal barge on the Rhine River in Bonn, Germany
Only Locally sourced, organic, fair trade hydrocarbons
It turns out oil isn't a monolith when it comes to its carbon footprint. Different sources and production pipelines have differing environmental impacts. A think tank recently put together a report that quantifies the climate change impacts of different oil sources, from tar sands to sea beds.
The Price of Ideals
One of the harsh realities of Germany's energy transition is that German consumers pay some of the highest electricity rates in Europe as a result of taxes and subsidies for renewables. However, monthly bills end up being similar to those in the United States because German households tend to be smaller and more efficient.
A home in with solar panels in Berlin, Germany