Global Emissions Goals Come With Big Cost and Political Hurdles

[riversedge]

Global Emissions Goals Come With Big Cost and Political Hurdles


Large global polluters such as China, India and the U.S. have pledged to switch to cleaner energies, but such overhauls would require hefty funding and deft political maneuvering

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-115-trillion-price-tag-to-cut-global-emissions-11619375103?mod=e2tw



Updated April 25, 2021 4:47 pm ET



Countries aiming to sharply reduce their emissions to meet climate goals must be prepared for staggering costs and looming political battles as they seek to overhaul swaths of their economies, climate analysts and economists say.

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Environmentalists and some economists say the changes would translate into innovative technologies and job creation, while saving a million lives annually from lowering air pollution and circumventing higher water levels that would swamp coastal cities. Still, the upfront costs would be a challenge, requiring revamps across many sectors, including steel production, agriculture and cargo shipping.

Mr. Biden’s target of sharply reducing U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030 would force companies to speed the pace of change and present new expenses. Much of the world’s hopes for reducing carbon emissions, however, rest on China and India, which are heavily dependent on coal—considered the dirtiest fossil fuel—to generate power. China is the No. 1 emitter globally.

David Victor, an international-relations professor at the University of California San Diego who focuses on climate policies, said getting to zero requires the difficult task of “eliminating essentially all fossil fuels.”

“What do you do about cement? What do you do about steel production? What do you do about agriculture? What do you do about aviation and shipping?” he said. “There’s a tendency when you study radical technological change to overestimate what’s possible in the near term.”

China needs to invest $21 trillion over three decades to overhaul transportation, industry and construction while building nuclear, wind and solar production facilities to reach the goal of zero net emissions by 2060, according to a report presented by China’s leading climate experts in October at Tsinghua University. That amounts to more than 2.5% of its annual gross domestic product.
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https://images.wsj.net/im-329526?width=1260&size=1.5


China is the world’s leading source of carbon emissions. The city of Qiqihar in 2019.
Photo: Huo Yanwen/SIPA/Zuma Press

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. A pretty good summary of why this shit ain't going to happen ...

And why the younger generation (and a vast swath of the plant and animal kingdom) is completely fucked.

And why I'm glad I'm old-ish and don't particularly care about living a long time.

I was here for the best of it

Let me also mention that the PHYSICS and CHEMISTRY of this problem are ultimately FAR more important than the monetary aspects. The monetary part is a 'trailing indicator', if you will.

[ShazamIam]

2. More of that right wing anti-climate mitigation. As if climate change and pollution aren't costly.

The propaganda folks back in the 90s didn't have any trouble with the very costly economic globalization, and wage suppression operation that began in the 90s and roared through the also well sold and costly wars of the 2000s. costly and environmentally damaging.

Remember, it has been close to 10 years since Murdoch took over the WSJ.