Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Energy for All Rachel Kyte has said her organisation is ready to partner with Caribbean governments and institutions to secure a clean, affordable and reliable energy future.
She was delivering the William G. Demas Memorial Lecture at the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) 46th annual Board of Governors Meeting at the Iberostar Resort in Lilliput, St James, on Tuesday.
Sustainable Energy for All is the brainchild of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Its main objectives are ensuring universal access to modern energy services and doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and the share of renewables in the global energy mix.
Kyte said that energy demand is not only the dominant contributor to climate change, but is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity the world faces today.
She noted that there are 1.1 billion people around the world who still have little or no access to energy, and three billion who rely on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste for cooking and heating.
DESERVE ACCESS
“We the peoples of the UN want a planet and a future that’s not ravaged by climate change. We the peoples deserve access to affordable, clean and reliable energy and we the peoples know that the time for action is now,” she said.
Kyte noted that the impacts of climate change are being felt all around the world, particularly in the Caribbean. She added that rainfall patterns are changing, which have caused a number of islands to experience prolonged dry seasons and severely low reservoir levels.
“This severely impacts the ability of island nations to grow local crops,” she pointed out, citing loss of an estimated 2,190 hectares of crops valued at millions of dollars in Jamaica due to drought.
Kyte pointed out that the CDB has an essential role to play in providing financing for sustainable energy projects.
ExxonMobil and others pursued research into technologies, yet blocked government efforts to fight climate change for more than 50 years, findings show
The patent records were among a new trove of documents published by the Center for International Environmental Law, and deepen the public relations challenge for Exxon. Photograph: Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters
The forerunners of ExxonMobil patented technologies for electric cars and low emissions vehicles as early as 1963 – even as the oil industry lobby tried to squash government funding for such research, according to a trove of newly discovered records.
Patent records reveal oil companies actively pursued research into technologies to cut carbon dioxide emissions that cause climate change from the 1960s – including early versions of the batteries now deployed to power electric cars such as the Tesla.
Scientists for the companies patented technologies to strip carbon dioxide out of exhaust pipes, and improve engine efficiency, as well as fuel cells. They also conducted research into countering the rise in carbon dioxide emissions – including manipulating the weather.
Esso, one of the precursors of ExxonMobil, obtained at least three fuel cell patents in the 1960s and another for a low-polluting vehicle in 1970, according to the records. Other oil companies such as Phillips and Shell also patented technologies for more efficient uses of fuel.
However, the American Petroleum Institute, the main oil lobby, opposed government funding of research into electric cars and low emissions vehicles, telling Congress in 1967: “We take exception to the basic assumption that clean air can be achieved only by finding an alternative to the internal combustion engine.”
This 1970 patent, assigned to Esso (now ExxonMobil), is a design for a low-polluting engine system. Photograph: Handout
And ExxonMobil funded a disinformation campaigned aimed at discrediting scientists and blocking government efforts to fight climate change for more than 50 years, beforepublicly disavowing climate denial in 2008.
The patent records were among a new trove of documents published on Thursday by the Center for International Environmental Law, and deepen the legal and public relations challenge for Exxon.
“What we saw was an array of patent technologies that demonstrated that these companies had the technologies they needed and could have commercialised to help address the problem of C02 pollution,” said Carroll Muffett, president of the Ciel. “They then turned to Congress and said you don’t need to invest in electrical vehicle research because the research is ongoing and it’s robust.”
The findings echo those in the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, which explored the deliberate destruction of GM’s first electric vehicles.
Alan Jeffers, an Exxon spokesman, insisted he could not comment directly on the documents as he was unable to access the Center for International Environmental law website on which they were published on Thursday morning.
In an emailed statement, Jeffers said: “The Guardian gave us only a few hours to comment on documents from four decades ago.”
Jeffers went on: “This further illustrates the Guardian’s well-established bias on climate change issues which has been demonstrated previously through its keep it in the ground campaign.”
He said the company believed the risks of climate change were real, was researching lower emission technologies, and engaged in “constructive dialogue” with policy makers about energy and climate change.
Researchers discovered more than 20 such patents filed by oil companies from as early as the 1940s for technologies that could help in the development of electric cars.
However, Ron Dunlop, president of Sun Oil and API chairman, told a joint hearing of the commerce committee in 1967 that government funding of research into electric cars would be misplaced – because the oil companies were so advanced in their research of cleaner cars. “We in the petroleum industry are convinced that by the time a practical electric car can be mass produced and marketed, it will not enjoy any meaningful advantage from an air pollution standpoint,” he told Congress. “Emissions from internal-combustion engines will have long since been controlled.”
Muffett said the findings were the result of three years of research and were not exhaustive.
“The question is what did they do to try to commercialise these technologies, knowing what they did about climate change,” he went on.
The revelations, the second set of documents released by Muffett’s organisation, reinforce charges by campaigners that Exxon was well aware that the burning of fossil fuels was a main driver of climate change – despite its public posture of doubt.
In addition to the technologies with potential for electric cars, Exxon and other oil companies were actively researching methods to cut emissions of carbon dioxide – the main greenhouse gas.
In another historic document that surfaced last month, a Canadian subsidiary of Exxon admitted the company had the technology to cut carbon emissions in half. However, the corporate memo dating from 1977 said it would be prohibitively expensive – doubling the cost of electricity generation, according to the documents obtained by Desmog blog.
New York and 17 other attorneys general, including DC and the US Virgin Islands, are investigating whether the oil company lied to investors and the public about the threat of climate change.
Campaigners plan to further turn up the heat on the company next week when Exxon holds its annual shareholder meeting in Dallas.
Campaigners have argued for more than a decade that Exxon bankrolled a network of front groups and conservative think tanks aimed at discrediting well-established science – confusing the public and delaying governments efforts to cut the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for warming.
Those efforts to put Exxon on the spot gathered pace after Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times reported that the company’s own scientists knew as early as the 1970s that greenhouse gases caused climate change.
The attorney general of the US Virgin Islands has subpoenaed Exxon to turn over email, documents and statements over the last decades.
Exxon has dismissed the investigations as politically motivated.
However, the company has reversed its opposition to fuel cell technology. Earlier this month, the company announced it had been conducting a joint research effort on fuel cell power plants with FuelCell.
The initiative, which got underway in 2011, aims to route the carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning power plants into fuel cells, producing low emissions electricity. The company has estimated it can cut 90% of carbon dioxide emissions.
“At ExxonMobil, we share the view that the risks of climate change are serious and warrant thoughtful action,” Rex Tillerson, Exxon’s chief executive, told the US Energy Association after receiving its annual award.
WITH the launch of Caribbean Climate Trackers, the region’s youth now have the chance to become more vocal on climate change.
The youth-led writing initiative, as hub manager Dizzanne Billy describes it, is intended “to identify and support young climate actors from around the world”.
With its genesis as the Adopt-A-Negotiator initiative, the effort was rebranded in Paris in December and is looking to amplify the perspectives of youth on climate change.
To that end, Billy, who is also president of the Caribbean Youth Environment Network in Trinidad, said youths recently had two publishing windows April 5 to 22 and May 4 through 15 that have qualified them for writing fellowships.
The April 5 to 22 window saw them writing on why the world should be free from fossil fuels and the effects of fossil fuels on health and air pollution.
The May 4 to 15 window saw them writing on climate change, human rights and energy transition.
“Coming out of these two publishing windows, the goal was to select 15 young people to be a part of a paid writing fellowship, as well as to choose two persons to be a part of the Climate Trackers team to COP22 (the 22nd meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held later this year in Marrakech),” said Billy.
fellow selection
“So far, the 15 persons have been announced and we successfully have one person from the Caribbean Climate Trackers chosen to be a fellow.
“Her name is Amrita Dass and she’s from Trinidad and Tobago. The two persons for the team have not yet been announced, but should be this week,” she added.
The fellowships, which got underway earlier this month, covers subjects including:
• an introduction to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;
• the annual Conference of the Parties and what it means;
• climate change and health;
• climate change, water and biodiversity;
• climate change, human rights and gender; and
• climate change variability in the Caribbean.
With the start of their operations in the region in March, the first order of business has been to address visibility while prompting support for their work.
Caribbean Climate Trackers therefore joined the Earth Day 2016 InstaMeet event, which ran from April 22 to 24 on the social networking service Instagram.
“In Trinidad, we met at the Botanic Gardens in Port-of-Spain, with young, spoken-word artistes performing about earth and the environment and
conservation. We also did some networking and speaking about climate change, [as well as] exchanged ideas on the Paris Agreement,” Billy told The Gleaner.
Their activities at the Botanic Gardens were shared on Instagram, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.
Billy has urged Caribbean youth to join the movement.
“We need to stop operating in insularity. We need to find now the power that we have when we work together,” she said.
“Young people tend to feel that their opinion does not matter or that they are like a box that needs to be ticked off.
” Our opinion matter and the only way we can get it out there is by doing the work, and we will see the results after,” Billy added.
The Caribbean hub joins seven others from across the world Latin America, Brazil, Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Balkans.
Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Energy for All Rachel Kyte has said her organisation is ready to partner with Caribbean governments and institutions to secure a clean, affordable and reliable energy future.
She was delivering the William G. Demas Memorial Lecture at the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) 46th annual Board of Governors Meeting at the Iberostar Resort in Lilliput, St James, on Tuesday.
Sustainable Energy for All is the brainchild of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Its main objectives are ensuring universal access to modern energy services and doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and the share of renewables in the global energy mix.
Kyte said that energy demand is not only the dominant contributor to climate change, but is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity the world faces today.
She noted that there are 1.1 billion people around the world who still have little or no access to energy, and three billion who rely on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste for cooking and heating.
DESERVE ACCESS
“We the peoples of the UN want a planet and a future that’s not ravaged by climate change. We the peoples deserve access to affordable, clean and reliable energy and we the peoples know that the time for action is now,” she said.
Kyte noted that the impacts of climate change are being felt all around the world, particularly in the Caribbean. She added that rainfall patterns are changing, which have caused a number of islands to experience prolonged dry seasons and severely low reservoir levels.
“This severely impacts the ability of island nations to grow local crops,” she pointed out, citing loss of an estimated 2,190 hectares of crops valued at millions of dollars in Jamaica due to drought.
Kyte pointed out that the CDB has an essential role to play in providing financing for sustainable energy projects.
The Adaptation Fund – from which Jamaica is benefitting to the tune of $10 million – has launched a global photo competition to promote readiness of the world’s coasts and watersheds for climate change.
The contest was launched on April 22 – recognised internationally as Earth Day – and this year, also when the new climate deal, dubbed the Paris Agreement, opened for signatures.
“The contest is aimed at involving all Adaptation Fund stakeholders, countries and projects, implementing entities, project staff and beneficiaries, executing entities, governments, non-governmental organisations and the general public to raise awareness of climate change issues affecting vital resources around the globe and the importance of developing adaptation solutions,” said a release from the fund.
With half the world’s population living within 60km of the ocean and 75 per cent of all large cities located by the sea, coastal areas are a major source for livelihoods through fishing, natural resources, trade, tourism, boating and recreation.
However, they are under increasing threat from climate change due to sea level rise, storm intensification, flooding, erosion, rising water temperature, species migration and pollution.
“Inland watersheds are equally endangered by climate change-related droughts, floods and extreme rainfall variability, as well as damage to natural protective ecosystems like degraded forests, wetlands, grasslands and river pollution from runoff or contamination,” the release added.
Coastal Zone Management Critical
Coastal-zone management projects that include sea walls, salt barriers and restoration of mangroves offer tremendous benefits in improving sustainability of both the ecosystem and community livelihoods over the long term.
Also beneficial are programmes to enhance urban and rural watershed resources through disaster risk reduction, forest protection, biodiversity conservation, water harvesting, drip-irrigation agriculture and landslide control.
Photos depicting the effects of climate change on coasts and inland watersheds, as well as adaptation actions to address them can be submitted to AFBSEC@adaptation-fund.org by June 3, 2016 with the email heading, ‘AF Photo Contest’.
Complete contest criteria, including relevance to the theme, and the fund’s vision of helping vulnerable communities adapt to climate change, as well as visual impact, originality and informational value, can be found on the fund’s rules page.
Contest winners will be selected by a panel of judges composed of climate change experts with country field expertise, and the winning photos will be displayed at the fund’s Global Climate Readiness Seminar in Washington, DC, July 13-14.
All photo submissions received will be posted by the fund to its Facebook page in an album dedicated to the contest, where anyone can go to like and comment on photos.
Caribbean countries have quietly started a green revolution and are now leading the way for other small island developing states in the global effort to limit the rise of global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. While challenges remain, five months after the historic climate agreement in Paris, they remain committed to saving energy and investing in renewables.
Some may argue that at a time when oil prices are low, there are incentives to slow this effort down. But, on the contrary, this is the time to take advantage of the savings and move further on their ambitious vision for the future. And that is precisely what they hope to do at this week’s US-Caribbean-Central American Energy Summit, hosted by US Vice-President Joe Biden.
The Caribbean finds itself at a turning point. The road ahead won’t be short: despite a substantial push for clean energy, renewables still contribute less than 10 per cent of electricity production in the Caribbean.
Ever since last year’s first summit, commitments have translated into concrete actions from leaders. They have played a major role in promoting clean energy development, energy efficiency and climate resilience throughout the region. With the support of regional and international institutions, such as Caricon and the World Bank, Caribbean countries have started a transition to clean-energy alternatives.
Solar power continues to expand as technology improves and production costs plummet. Wind energy is also growing as production has become more commercially viable and technology can now better manage the unpredictability of wind and solar resources.
Eastern Caribbean countries are breaking down barriers to all renewables and are even actively exploring geothermal energy as a way to power their country in a reliable, clean and cost-effective manner. Exploratory drilling and preparatory work is happening in Dominica, Grenada, Monserrat, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
It is important that these transitions to renewable energy go hand in hand with efforts to improve efficiency and reduce cost. Caribbean governments know the importance of reducing inefficiencies by modernising electricity distribution companies and grid systems, and through simple measures such as making buildings more energy efficient and using high-efficiency air conditioners and LED light bulbs.
This is particularly crucial in the Caribbean, where many countries spend more than five per cent of their income in oil imports but still cannot fully satisfy demand. The uncertainty around the future for oil prices and of concessional oil financing make it even more important for small Caribbean economies to diversify their sources of energy.
Gains in energy efficiency help the private sector develop and become more competitive. Even with current low oil prices, electricity prices around the region average over US$ 0.25 per kWh – about three to four times more than what is paid in the US or other developed countries.
For small, tourism-dependent islands like Barbados, where air conditioning alone accounts for 48 per cent of hotel electricity consumption, continued gains in energy efficiency will help businesses cut costs and make the hotel industry more competitive.
At a time of global economic slowdown, this is a powerful example of how green energy can strengthen budgets, stimulate economies and unleash sustainable growth.
The private sector can also play an important role in developing the energy sector, through public-private partnerships (PPP). In Dominica and St Lucia, the World Bank is working with the government in helping de-risk power generation investments, develop bankable PPP deals and attract qualified private sector developers. In Jamaica, a 36-megawatt wind farm has received US$63 million in funding from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and other donors.
Increasingly, small island states are being confronted with extreme weather events and with the rise in sea level, it makes it more and more important to invest in energy resilience to ensure that infrastructure and systems are robust and well protected when natural disasters occur.
Caricom, together with the World Bank Group, the United States and others, have been working on establishing a regional one-stop shop to provide greater access to information on technical resources, streamline financing, and improve coordination and transparency.
At this year’s summit, leaders have an important opportunity to build on the momentum. Progress on this front holds great promise for the region. By transforming into a model of renewable energy, the Caribbean can show the world how to generate green growth that is sustainable and supportive of the poor and vulnerable.
Jorge Familiar is World Bank Vice-President for Latin America and the Caribbean
Amid improving market sentiment and a weakening dollar, the World Bank is raising its 2016 forecast for crude oil prices to $41 per barrel from $37 per barrel in its latest April 2016 Commodity Markets Outlook, as an oversupply in markets is expected to recede.
The crude oil market rebounded from a low of $25 per barrel in mid-January to $40 per barrel in April following production disruptions in Iraq and Nigeria and a decline in non-Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) production, mainly US shale.
A proposed production freeze by major producers failed to materialise at a meeting in mid-April, the World Bank said in a release.
“We expect slightly higher prices for energy commodities over the course of the year as markets rebalance after a period of oversupply,” said John Baffes, senior economist and lead author of the April 2016 Commodity Markets Outlook.
“Still, energy prices could fall further if OPEC increases production significantly and non-OPEC production does not fall as fast as expected,” he added.
All main commodity indices tracked by the World Bank are expected to decline in 2016 from the year before due to persistently elevated supplies, and in the case of industrial commodities – which include energy, metals, and agricultural raw materials – weak growth prospects in emerging market and developing economies.
Energy prices, including oil, natural gas and coal, are due to fall 19.3 per cent in 2016 from the previous year, a more gradual drop than the 24.7 per cent slide forecast in January. Non-energy commodities, such as metals and minerals, agriculture and fertilisers, are due to decline 5.1 per cent this year, a downward revision from the 3.7 per cent drop forecast in January, the World Bank said.
COST PROBLEM
According to a March 2016 International Monetary Fund (IMF) working paper titledCaribbean Energy: Macro-related Challenges, the single most important cost problem is the region’s heavy dependence on expensive, imported fossil fuels.
As in the United States, the cost of using petroleum to produce electricity is several times higher than alternative fuels, it said.
Excluding Haiti, biomass represents around 11 per cent of Caribbean energy supply, mostly concentrated in Jamaica, the paper said.
It noted that Jamaica is the second-largest electricity consumer, after Trinidad and Tobago, with aggregate consumption of three billion kilowatt hours in 2012. That represents 32 per cent of total regional electricity consumption, excluding Trinidad and Tobago.
The IMF estimated that the net benefit to Jamaica from a decline in oil prices as a per cent of gross domestic product was four per cent.
If the Peru and Mexico auctions are any indication, Latin American markets are establishing a new, and very low, normal for solar prices. Peru recently awarded a solar power purchase agreement (PPA) at $47.98/MWh to Enel Green Power (EGP), making headlines as the lowest PPA on record. But just weeks later, EGP beat its own a record in Mexico’s auction with a PPA price of $35.44/MWh for solar PV, and an average price for all awardees of $50.77/MWh for wind and solar.
What’s pushing these prices down, and how long will it last? Developers are likely making a few key assumptions:
1) Commodity prices are falling — 80 per cent since 2008, according to data from IRENA — and are expected to continue dropping, so modules will be cheaper;
2) Energy Performance Certificate costs are likely to fall as renewable energy penetration increases throughout the region; and
3) The quality of resources is very good in these markets, increasing the effectiveness of solar technologies so developers can get more bang for their buck.
While solar costs are indeed falling, it’s the jaw-droppingly low price bids by EGP that are making headlines. They are building massive installations, much larger than in the past, and economies of scale are helping to push down the prices. Access to funds at highly competitive rates from organisations such as the European Investment Bank has also enabled EGP to bid aggressively.
“Our prices were the most competitive but in line with those submitted by other international operators taking part in the auction,” said Carlo Zorzoli, EGP’s head of Latin America.
EGP has won 1,172 megawatts of solar PV in Latin America in 2016 alone. That, in itself, is noteworthy; perhaps more noteworthy is that they believe they can build profitable projects across a portfolio of tightly priced PPAs.
It’s hard, and perhaps not even desirable, for other developers to compete with EGP’s low bids, but there are other players in these markets bidding at or very near to Enel’s winning prices. Companies eager to make a footprint in the market are coming in at or below cost, according to industry analysts, potentially with internal rates of return in the single digits – a reality they are willing to face to gain a strong foothold in these young markets with enormous potential.
A favourable regulatory environment will continue to be vital in attracting serious developers and maintaining low prices. Peru’s regulator, Osinergmin, required very high bid bonds for their RFP — $50,000/MW — and tied the PPA price to the US dollar, which could prevent results similar to the frenzied bids and current situation in Brazil.
Mexico also allowed developers to bid in pesos indexed to the US dollar, which offered more economic certainty.
Peru’s next request for proposal is couple of years off, but Mexico has one coming up in August, and many expect to see even lower prices.
However, when it comes to other Latin American markets, while prices may be relatively low, they aren’t expected to break records, particularly in Argentina where many unknown factors loom. Broadly, however, the theme is clear: Latin America is opening up, competition is fierce and — at least as far as pricing is concerned — it’s a race to the bottom.
Albert Daley: We have developed a proposal and they are favourably disposed to making the funding available to us.
With its role as National Designated Authority (NDA) with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) secure, Jamaica’s Climate Change Division is moving to ensure it successfully fulfils the functions.
To that end, the division recently applied to the GCF for financing to boost its capacity to deliver on its mandate as NDA.
“We have developed a proposal and they are favourably disposed to making the funding available to us, but there are some conditionalities that we have to meet,” the division’s principal director, Albert Daley, told The Gleaner.
It was not clear when the island would receive the official final word from the Fund.
Meanwhile, as NDA, the division serves as the GCF’s “first point of contact” for the country while also providing information to local actors on the GCF.
“An important role is not only to provide information re the GCF’s facilities, services and offerings for loans and grants; it also has the task of recommending national implementing entities (NIEs), which are institutions through which the GCF channels funds to a country or region and which is given oversight responsibility for the funds,” Daley noted.
Already, he said, the division has approached two public entities that could likely fill that role.
“Once we recommend, then the GCF will begin working with the entity we recommend to complete the process of accreditation,” he revealed.
OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP PROPOSALS
With an accredited NIE, the island can go all out to develop proposals for projects that it can itself administer.
“The ideal thing is not for people outside the country to submit proposals on our behalf, but for us to submit our own projects so that whatever returns from them will be in the country,” Daley noted.
As NDA, the division also has as its mandate to provide assurances to the GCF that whatever proposals are coming from Jamaica are in line with the island’s national priority areas for action, pursuant to its climate-change adaptation and mitigation efforts.
“The NDA is required to submit a no-objection letter to the GCF to say we have no objection, as the NDA, to [any proposed] project going forward because it is a national priority. We are also expected to indicate the extent to which a consultative process was followed in terms of developing the project,” Daley revealed.
According to the division boss, there is no question of the value of the step Jamaica has taken in having the CCD so designated.
“If we don’t have an NDA, we cannot initiate dialogue or advance any work with the GCF. For a country to engage with the GCF, it is a requirement that they have an NDA. They will only consider a project, for example, if it is endorsed by an NDA; it is a prerequisite for engagement with the GCF,” he explained.
Kamina Johnson Smith, minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, will this Friday represent Jamaica during the official signing of the Paris climate-change agreement in New York, following last November’s conference in France.
Some 200 countries had gathered in Paris for the COP 21 climate conference and, in December, adopted the new agreement, which aims to limit carbon emissions.
Clifford Mahlung, project administrator at the Climate Change Division in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, told The Gleaner that the signing is a significant step towards strengthening the work that has started to mitigate the effects of climate change.
“We will be among the other heads of state who will be there. This is the first step towards becoming a party to the Paris agreement because this has to be followed up by ratification,” he said.
“The process towards ratification will require government approval, and so that process is on the way. We should be complete before the year ends.”
Mahlung said now that the agreement is open for signature by the parties to the convention, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been asked to convene a crucial ceremony, which will be attended by United States President Barack Obama, among others.
NEED FOR SENSITISATION
Making reference to a post-COP 21 discussion held last week at the Four Seasons Hotel in New Kingston, Mahlung said it was important that Jamaicans are sensitised to the importance of the agreement, especially as it relates to carbon emissions.
“With the significance of COP 21, we decided to have this discussion one week before the official signing. This new climate-change agreement builds on the convention and provides the basis which will accommodate further work, with respect to the climate-change process,” Mahlung said.
The agreement itself consists of many areas, including the new long-term goal in keeping future temperatures well below 2˚C and pursuing efforts to keep those temperatures as close to 1.5˚C as possible.
“Even though we contribute less than one per cent to the global emissions, it is important that we do our part to control our energy output, which will signal to the emitters that we are serious about climate change, which will mean also that they have no excuse but to reduce their emissions as well,” he said.
