At a global level, all ecosystems are adversely affected by CO2 emissions. It is the consensus of the scientific community that a reduction in the amount of CO2 emissions will help improves the current situation with our climate. Here in Canada, we are taxed on all sorts of carbon emissions. We are often reminded that we should reduce our carbon footprint. Some even say that we should even stop eating steaks – ludicrous isn’t it? But, a simple chart like the one below, from ourworldindata.org, shows that Canada is not among the largest CO2 problem countries in the planet.
It is obvious that Canada is not one of the main contributors to global CO2 emission levels. China and India are two of the largest industrial countries in the world that rank high on the chart above. One major contributor is the reliance of their industries on power generation from coal as seen in the chart below from ourworldindata.org.
As we can see from the chart below, from chinadialogue.net, Majority of electricity generation of both countries comes from coal.
If I had the money, time, power, and resources, I would invest my time and resources to wean India and China from coal and move them towards cleaner renewable energy sources. I know that both countered have a lot of manufacturing and need massive amounts of energy, but the needs of the Earth is more important than theirs. Both countries are vast and have large areas with an abundance of sunshine during the year. Solar panels can be installed to generate electricity from the sun. Both countries have large areas of flat lands and large coastal areas. These areas can be used for installation of wind turbines to generate electricity from the wind. Both countries also have plenty of rivers and waterfalls that may be used for hydro-electrical power generation.
India and China may argue that these initiatives will be very expansive. Since I have the money I will help them financially. The two countries may argue that many of their citizens are employed by the coal industry and move from that to other methods of power generation will put many people out of work. Since I have the money and the resources, I will help them plan and provide training for their coal workers so that they can be employed in other industries.
They may still be reluctant to make the changes to reduce their coal consumption. Since I have the power, I will force them to do so.
But realistically, if we believe that we are at a crucial stage with global CO2 emissions, it will benefit all of us for these two countries, to move away from coal as fast as possible. If I had the power, I would establish a global initiative to help India and China with the finances and logistics of moving away from coal.
References:
- Hannah Ritchie, Max Roser and Pablo Rosado (August 2020), CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions, ourworldindata.org, https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions
- Hannah Ritchie, Max Roser and Pablo Rosado, Energy Mix, ourworldindata.org , https://ourworldindata.org/energy-mix#coal-what-share-of-energy-comes-from-coal
- Whose power plans are greener: China or India?, chinadialogue.net, https://chinadialogue.net/en/energy/9770-whose-power-plans-are-greener-china-or-india/
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