A summit to save the world
Every day more and more people are joining the cause of wanting to live in a less polluted world. The preservation of the environment is a vital premise for this group of people who long to see a renewed, greener, healthier planet Earth.
We are well aware that achieving this goal does not depend entirely on a small group of individuals who, although they organize themselves to raise awareness on the issue, their work must go hand in hand with the efforts and contributions of the leaders of each country involved in the preservation of the environment.
World leaders attending the virtual summit convened by Joe Biden. Photo vía Ágora Diario
Therefore, meetings such as the recent "Climate Summit" are the ones that could be most fruitful in addressing this issue, since it gives a face to the problem of global warming and its devastating consequences if more urgent actions are not taken, so that dialogue on the issue, allows to call for new and better solutions.
If you are still interested in the climate summit and the actions to optimize the environment, here are some of the contributions that the great powers will make in terms of reducing global warming and why not, the creation of a more pro-environmental economy.
A green economy
U.S. President Joe Biden has shown an interest in climate change from the beginning of his presidential campaign to the present day, so much so that it is part of his economic agenda. For him, getting more nations to invest in a healthier and cleaner economy will provide citizens with more and better rewards.
For the head of the world's leading power, achieving such an economy will imply a resilient and competitive dynamic, among other reasons, because it will serve to create new sources of employment and, presumably, to create new technologies and science to which major countries will have to adjust. From now on, whoever develops clean resources will dominate the market.
An example of this can be seen with Elon Musk's electric car factory, better known as TESLA, which with the proposed economy would be a spearhead of the new model and new forms of high competitiveness. All this is nothing more than the obvious reduction of carbon monoxide and would represent one of the new sources of employment that President Biden has spoken of.
Headwinds and tailwinds
Meeting the goal set by each nation to achieve carbon reduction means that this decade will be one of the most decisive in history. Each country must make a concerted effort to reduce carbon emissions. At least the U.S. goal is one of the most ambitious, promising a 52% reduction, while Canada and Japan propose to increase their efforts to meet the proposed targets and reach zero carbon emissions by 2050.
However, countries such as China and Russia could hinder the efforts led by the US and the White House, as there are significant conflicts of interest due to ideological differences and the desire to become the new world powers. Nevertheless, their participation in the summit gives hope for the possibility of getting their countries to cooperate in the creation of more planet-friendly technologies and thus reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
What happened at the Climate Summit?
This meeting took place online on April 22nd and 23rd. After 124 interventions by presidents, heads of state, ministers, activists, entrepreneurs and philanthropists, the climate summit organized by Joe Biden, in which 40 world leaders participated, has ended, being this a first step towards the COP26 that will take place at the end of the year. This meeting was highlighted by two key points: unity in the cause and economic opportunity.
This was President Biden's message to the attendees:
"Somebody tell me one way we can create as many jobs and generate as much wealth as we can with this climate fight."
During the course of the day, Lonnie R. Stephenson, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, addressed the president directly to pressure him to "defend nuclear energy and nuclear plants".
At around 15:50 the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchez, took the floor and thanked Biden in English for the "return of the USA to the Paris Agreement. He made his position clear regarding the requests to reduce emissions saying that "Spain is listening to you loud and clear".
He also wanted to emphasize that "during the last three years, we have closed our coal mines and a large part of our (coal) power plants" and added that by 2022 Spain will have reduced electricity from this fossil fuel by 85%. To this end, Sánchez stressed that "230,000 million will be mobilized by the Spanish Government over the next decade for the green transition" and that it will promote the creation of between "250,000 and 350,000 jobs, most of them in the manufacturing and construction sectors".
Some of the most relevant statements have been mentioned below:
Bill Gates: Co-founder of Microsoft Corporation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which aims to improve health care and reduce extreme poverty worldwide, as well as expand educational opportunities and access to technology.
"Climate change is a very complicated problem. The big difficulty today is that all non-CO2 emitting energy sources are more expensive than their fossil fuel-based alternatives."
"Leaders and governments must reward those who take action."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken, explaining the climate goals envisaged for the near future:
"In 2025, just four years from now, Israel will stop consuming coal. Period.
US Vice President Kamala Harris:
"it is imperative, as a global community, that we act together. Those for whom global warming has the greatest impact are the same people who are most affected by economic and gender inequalities".
The Spanish Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, explained:
"Children, the elderly and women account for 80% of climate refugees in North Africa."
Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, representative of the Association of Indigenous Women and People of Chad, stressed the role of all indigenous communities around the world in the climate struggle:
"there is no way for us to solve the big problem that the industrialized countries have put us into."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen explained that:
"the Paris Agreement is the life insurance of humanity. We are ready for more climate action."
"We are too close to exceeding 2 degrees of global warming. Scientists tell us that we are still in time, but it has to be now."
Angela Merkel has expressed that the end of the German coal industry will have to wait:
"For us coal is an essential resource, but by 2038 we will stop getting electricity from coal."
"We get 47% of our electricity from renewable sources."
Now, yes, we have more hope that the world a decade from now will be a cleaner and greener place. In the meantime, let's keep taking care of it and taking care of ourselves.
¡Join the fight!