This week’s report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Can’t be tougher: Take action now to deal with the climate crisis, otherwise we will fall into an irreversible cycle of extreme weather events, which will become more serious and frequent over time. From wildfires in Greece and Algeria to floods in London and Turkey, we have warmed the world by 1.1 degrees, and the impact on the world is now obvious.When the epidemic broke out, the Prime Minister promised to do ““At all costs” to deal with Covid-19-but when it comes to climate emergencies, people are disproportionately concerned about the cost of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.
According to the Climate Change Commission (CCC), Annual cost of capital The net zero will reach an average of 44 billion pounds per year, and by 2050 it will reach nearly 140 million pounds. Roughly inferred, this is equivalent to £1,600 for a family. These numbers are only model estimates, but unfortunately, they have become the main material for climate deniers, who are arguing everywhere.This will produce False headlines and inaccurate reports Already postponing emergency actions to deal with the climate crisis, including new crops Backbencher Who swears to fight against these ‘Unreasonable” expenses.
In a recent interview Minister of Commerce Kwasi Kwarteng and Rich Sunak, Both are questioned about the net zero cost and who will pay for it. Although it is exciting to see the media discussing heat pumps and electric cars, these interviews are mainly to emphasize how these costs are too high and will fall on the poorest people in society. Unfortunately, neither minister confessed to their interrogators that ignoring the climate is much more expensive and puts the most vulnerable groups in our society at greatest risk.
This Model from the back CCC’s 1.4tn figure assumes that as investment shifts from fossil fuels to more expensive low-carbon technologies, the cost of energy, transportation and other services will rise. This means that the household’s disposable income will decrease, which may reduce our gross domestic product (GDP). Nevertheless, CCC’s analysis shows that by the middle of this century, the impact of such decarbonization investments on GDP will be minimal and may even have a positive impact.
The reason is that running low-carbon technologies is much cheaper than using fossil fuels.For example, despite the upfront costs, Four times cheaper Drive a charging electric car at home instead of a gasoline car. The cost of maintaining and repairing electric vehicles is also lower, while reducing our dependence on importing oil from volatile markets. CCC estimates that across the economy, the savings from electric vehicles will exceed the upfront costs by the end of the decade.We can expect that the cost of the less current technologies (such as heat pumps) will also experience a similar decline. Expected to double Year-on-year growth in the next six years.
In fact, the operating cost of clean technology is very low, even this year £4 billion lower operating costs Compared with fossil fuels-by 2050, this difference will increase to nearly 40 billion pounds.In other words, we have have Technology that is more efficient, less polluting, and lower operating cost than existing fossil fuel companies.
The net zero cost will fall on the poorest people. This is by no means a foregone conclusion.In fact, policymakers have a Lots of options Avoid this result altogether.The real challenge today is to make sure that people Actively encourage Make low-carbon choices while obtaining cheap financing, loans, and grants from governments and private institutions to overcome high-cost barriers.
“The net zero cost will fall on the poorest people. This is by no means a foregone conclusion. “
Leaving aside the cost reduction of green technology, I find it hard to believe that we are talking about net-zero costs without mentioning the costs of letting climate change ravage. Top 10 Climate Change in 2020 The total cost of inducing disasters is £95 billion, Usually in some of the world’s poorest areas, causing thousands of deaths and displacement of millions of people. These costs are rising every year.
For the United Kingdom, the cost of reaching net zero by 2050 is approximately 1% to 2% of GDP. Nearly 9% by the middle of this century, Which is almost six times the cost of reducing emissions. If we want to prevent everyone in the UK from becoming poorer and more susceptible to the effects of climate change, the UK recognizes that its historical, moral and economic responsibility to reduce emissions is of paramount importance.
When it comes to replacing old dirty technologies, the task ahead is daunting, but it pales in comparison to what we achieved decades ago. Between 1967 and 1977, the United Kingdom underwent large-scale revisions or Replace nearly 40m electrical appliances (Boilers, fires, stoves and ovens) belong to 14 million households, modernizing them to rely on newly discovered North Sea natural gas instead of artificial gas made from more polluting coal. Today, more than 44 million gas appliances are operating in our homes, and we have given ourselves the next 20 years to modernize them with cleaner alternatives.
Pay a small part of our GDP to ease Continued mass extinction The number of species in our world should be absolutely effortless. We cannot keep arguing about the cost of solving these challenges. But to do this, we need our political leaders to truly grasp and openly communicate the impact of not acting quickly — and make full use of the firepower of the government and the financial sector to achieve net zero.
image: Quarry photography (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
