IT LOOKS LIKE 2016 WILL HAVE BEEN THE HOTTEST year on record, breaking the previous record of 2015.
Average temperatures from January to September were 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels according to the World Meteorological Organisation. It is thought that the El Nino phenomenon has played a part in the rise, but that CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions continue to be the main culprits.
Even more disturbing is that in parts of Arctic Russia, temperatures have been 6°C to 7°C above the mean, and rises of more than 3°C have been recorded in Alaska and North Western Canada. All of which is being linked to increases in the frequency of extreme weather conditions such as flooding and heatwaves.
The increasing evidence that at least some of this rise is man-made has convinced most mainstream scientists to get behind the call to limit CO2 emissions. And at the end of last year the historic Paris Climate Agreement was negotiated by over 100 of the world’s largest polluters including the USA.
The deal came into law on 4th November and speaking at the recent climate change talks in Marrakech, French President Francoise Hollande promised to hold the USA to account when President-elect Donald Trump came to power.
During the US Presidential election campaign, Trump came across as a climate change denier and pledged to withdraw the US from the Paris agreement if he became the next President.
Now that reality is here, many are hoping this was nothing more than campaigning rhetoric and that once Mr Trump is confronted with the facts he will see the wisdom in curbing greenhouse emissions for the benefit of the whole planet.
The human cost
Even if one believes that much of climate change is a natural phenomenon, there can be little rational argument against trying to ensure that human activity doesn’t add to it. After all, whatever the cause, the heating of the planet and the effect this is having and will continue to have can hardly be denied. And reversing or containing rising global temperatures makes stopping or turning the largest oil tanker seem like child’s play.
The Paris agreement was hailed as a breakthrough at the time and it has to be said that it probably surpassed all expectations that such global cooperation on climate change could be achieved. Even more encouraging news is that total global CO2 emissions appear to have remained “flat” for the third year in a row despite increasing global economic output.
Much of this is put down to a reduction in the use of coal in the USA as a result of increases in wind, solar and shale gas for electricity production. Again, President Trump has shaken the status quo by vowing to reverse coal’s falling usage in an effort to secure more blue collar jobs for the American disenfranchised, but it remains to be seen if he will implement this policy now he has taken office.
Mr Trump is a businessman and by all accounts a very clever one who can spot an opportunity to make money from a deal and carry it through to the finish. It is to be hoped that once confronted with the real facts and the huge groundswell of world public opinion concerning climate change, he will recognise that pursuing a policy of clean renewable energy will be good for jobs, the economy and the USA’s long-term good standing in the world.
