Even though climate scientist Kevin Anderson has given up flying he attended, via train and ferry, most of the annual COPs, the Conferences of the Parties. They are held under the auspices of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change. And, as Deputy Director of the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research in the UK, he contributes to the science.
Kevin Anderson says that we have known since 1990 about the need to end fossil fuel use. However now, 28 years later, emissions of greenhouse gases are still going up and are now a staggering 65% higher than in 1990.
The economists Thomas Piketty (in “Carbon and Inequality”) found that only 10% of world population are responsible for 30% of CO2 emissions. If these 10% were to adopt the life style of the average European while the other 90% were to make no changes a huge step towards climate stabilization would be made.
Kevin Anderson also points to the economics of growth that are preventing the phase out of fossil fuels, and critiques out techno-fixes and can even contaminate efforts such as green development initiatives as long as they also promise Growth.
The conversation with Kevin Anderson was recorded at the December 2018 COP in Katowice, Poland, in the Scientists’ Warning program, hosted by Stuart Scott and Victoria Hurth.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)
