Solving Climate Problems Is Not That Expensive And Even Profitable
Fighting climate change requires close international cooperation, but global politics and short-term economic interests still hinder the execution of a joint plan of action. How can this be overcome? Participants of HSE’s international conference ‘The New Economics of Climate: Prospects for Russia’ tried to answer this question.
The leaders of practically all countries admit that climate change is giving rise to serious risks. The high-carbon economic model, upon which global economic growth is still based, will push global warming two degrees above critical levels in this century alone, which might bring about extreme and practically irreversible consequences.
According to the Director of the RAS Water Problems Institute, Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, the threat of surpassing maximum acceptable temperatures is now extremely high. ‘A six-degree rise in temperature will lead to the death of the vast majority of plants and animals. Many believe that Russia is not under threat – a cold climate, 70% of territory as permafrost… But warming is taking place faster in our country than in other places. Natural disasters are becoming more frequent, and they are causing even more damage to nature. Rising sea levels threaten floods, and methane and carbon dioxide compound the matter even worse,’ he said.
Catastrophic climate changes can only be prevented on a global level and in close cooperation with other countries, according to Oleg Pluzhnikov, who is the Deputy Director of the Department of State Regulation of Tariffs, Infrastructure Reforms, and Energy Efficiency at the Russian Economic Development Ministry. But currently, neither the government nor business is interested in this topic. Resolving immediate economic issues like creating jobs, increasing competitive ability, and fighting poverty are turning climate-related issues into second priorities. Decrees, concepts, and doctrines are being passed, but nothing is taking place beyond that. Any sort of dialogue with the U.S. has been interrupted, and separate talks on coordinating climate policy are underway with just a handful of EU countries.
Just a single percent of global GDP is needed in order to lower greenhouse gas emissions…in order to survive
To intensify the fight against climate change, it is necessary to link results with economic gain. According to Dr Alex Bowen, Principal Research Fellow at the London School of Economics’ Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, lowering greenhouse gas emissions will inevitably lead to innovative low-carbon economic growth, and it will create new drivers for the development of global industry as a whole. ‘And this is not that expensive – even profitable since low-coal infrastructure costs are not high at all,’ Dr Bowen notes. ‘Just a single percent of global GDP is needed in order to lower greenhouse gas emissions…in order to survive…’ Viktor Danilov-Danilyan adds. For comparison, 2.5% of global GDP is spent on defence, according to official data.
What measures must be taken for Russia to transition into a new low-coal economy? According to Georgy Safonov, who is the Director of HSE’s Centre for Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, it is necessary to stop financing high-coal projects and strategies in urban planning, land usage, and energy, while also subsidizing connection fees, providing low-interest loans to develop low-carbon infrastructure, and strengthening the market’s demand for low-coal technology.
‘It is necessary to more quickly stop producing electricity by burning coal, which pollutes the environment. The construction of coal-fired power plants should be permitted only if there are no alternatives. By 2050, we must stop generating electricity by burning fossil fuels not covered by measures to fight emissions,’ Safonov comments.
Maria Denisova, specially for HSE News Service
Georgy Safonov
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Igor Danilov-Danilyan
Director of the RAS Water Problems Institute