COP27 covered in clouds of failure
THE United Nations Climate summits are held annually to concur on the steps the world bellwethers can take to inhibit the ascension in earth’s temperature.
COP stands for the conference for parties. Parties are the countries that are attending the conference.
The earth’s temperature has 1.1 Celsius and peregrinating towards 1.5 Celsius.If the temperature reaches 1.5 Celsius, it will have an immensely colossal impact on every aspect of human life.
In 2014, 194 countries signed the Paris Climate Agreement to constrain the temperature to under 1.5 Celsius.
This year’s COP27 conference is consequential in many ways because countries such as Pakistan faced massive climate-induced disasters which have decimated the economy, people, and infrastructure.
The world facing an energy crisis due to the Ukraine crisis.In this situation, the goal of circumscribing temperature under 1.5 Celsius seems unattainable.
Countries that pledged to inhibit their emission did not follow it.In fact, the world has already become 1.2 Celsius sultrier than the pre-industrial level.
Furthermore, the impact of Greenhouse gases remains for a long time.Consequently, it seems infeasible to procure the goal of constraining the temperature under 1.5 Celsius.
This goal of cutting emissions doesn’t seem facile and needs massive investment. According to one estimate, the world will require one trillion dollars invested annually to procure the Paris Climate Agreement goal.
To procure the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement, utilizing nuclear power is very eminent. Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change in its reports verbalized using proven technology to achieve the purpose of limiting temperatures under 1.5 Celsius.
Nuclear Energy is the only puissance source that can perpetuate energy without disruption. It is the most cleanly proven source of power the world has right now.
The US and France are getting 20 percent and 70 percent of their energy from nuclear power, respectively.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology experimented on 1000 scenarios that can be acclimated to provide clean energy to the US.
The purest and most reliable source of potency was nuclear technology. Furthermore, nuclear power plants need less space than wind and solar power plants, and they engender energy more efficiently than solar and wind power plants.
However, nuclear power has so many stigmas affixed to them. Due to accidents such as Three Miles Islands, Chornobyl, and Fukushima, the world bellwethers are reluctant to utilize the full power of nuclear weapons.
In addition, these accidents can transpire; however, the focus should be on finding the solution to these quandaries, not consummately ignoring its efficacy.
In addition, if we study the death caused per unit of electricity, nuclear technology just causes 0.007 deaths compared to 24.6 of coal, 18.4 of oil, 4.6 of biomass, and 2.8 of gas.
If the world leaders do not adopt the proven nuclear technology out of trepidation contingency to abbreviate greenhouse gas emissions, more people would die, especially in poor countries.
Incipient research from Climate Impact Lab illustrated that people in low-income countries will become victim of climate change more than more affluent countries.
According to their recent report, even if countries meet their Pairs Climate Agreement Pledges, in the cities like Faisalabad in Pakistan, the yearly all-cause death rate could increment by 67 deaths per 100,000.
Furthermore, the world will always need more electricity in the future because temperatures will increase due to climate change.
In this scenario, people will be stuck in a cyclic process in which they will utilize more electricity to keep themselves cool, which will further deteriorate the climate if we do not find a way to provide electricity from immaculate nuclear resources.
Ergo, world leaders and companies need to find a solution to the quandaries cognate to nuclear technology.
Companies like Terra power are endeavouring to build next generation nuclear reactors. Utilizing the super computer simulation, they produced a model of a nuclear reactor that engenders less atomic waste and can additionally work on the waste of other nuclear reactors.
Furthermore, they build it underground, which can avert it from attacks, and radioactive material is stored in pins that expand if it overheats, which slow downs nuclear reaction.
These innovative solutions are the desideratum of the hour, and the Non-Proliferation Treaty also emphasizes the use of placid nuclear technology; however, this seems arduous in the current multi-spectrum geopolitical environment.
The Russia-Ukraine war will also impact the development of nuclear power reactors. Russia is developing more nuclear reactors worldwide and China is leading the way after it.
Due to the current geopolitical competition, the US would not optate Russia and China to build nuclear reactors and develop a cognition of dependency on other countries.
Furthermore, significant powers must cooperate with each other for the peaceful spread of nuclear weapons.
In conclusion, the world will fail to achieve the target of circumscribing temperature under 1.5 Celsius, which will have devastating consequences for the developing world.
However, adopting nuclear technology still presents countries with hope if major powers decide to cooperate.
—The writer is a researcher at CISS, AJK. He Works on Nuclear Politics & Strategies, Nuclear Disarmament, and Emerging technologies and New Trends in Warfare.
