All the more because abnormal weather patterns have become visible, now is the time to squarely look at the adverse effects of global warming and take effective measures against them.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a special report. If things were left as they are now, global average temperatures would be 1.5 C higher, as early as 2030, than they were before the Industrial Revolution, the report said.
The IPCC is an organization that scientifically analyzes current conditions, future projections and so on with regard to global warming and climate change. As its past reports formed the foundation for the world to work out measures against global warming, the latest report cannot be treated lightly, either.
The Paris Agreement -- an international framework to deal with global warming -- sets the goal of holding the temperature increase by the end of this century to below 2 C. One and a half degrees of warming is, at the present phase, considered as a goal to strive for.
Yet even with 1.5 C of warming, natural calamities such as floods or droughts will more likely occur. Rising sea levels and more frequent damage from storm surges will also occur. The report has given such warnings.
As a matter of fact, powerful typhoons and hurricanes have come ashore repeatedly in Japan and the United States. This summer, many people died during heat waves that hit various parts of the world, while large-scale forest fires occurred in rapid succession.
Atmospheric phenomena occur due to a combination of diverse conditions, and not a few extreme events have occurred in the past. Even so, the opinions presented by the IPCC, saying that warming will make abnormal weather more frequent, can be considered to carry the weight of real possibility.
Great role for Japan
It will not be easy to hold the average temperature increase to 1.5 C. The report has emphasized that in order to do so, it will be necessary to beef up measures to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) -- a key greenhouse gas -- and cut them to net zero by around 2050.
With regard to coal-fired thermal power, the report calls for having it nearly phased out by 2050.
In December, the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be held in Poland. How the latest report is reflected in the working out of concrete rules for the Paris Agreement will become one of the focal points.
What is important, then, is a viewpoint of reducing the amount of CO2 emissions for the whole world. How can the emissions from developing countries be reduced, as they normally rise sharply in line with economic development? Technological development and institutional arrangements that would make both economic growth and environmental measures compatible are indispensable.
The role to be played by Japan, which boasts excellent energy-saving technologies, is great.
Japan should also strive to cut down on CO2 emissions within the country. It is necessary to lessen dependence on coal-burning thermal power, which has grown as a result of suspensions of nuclear power plants in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The ratio of renewable energy sources, such as solar power, which are disadvantageous in terms of costs and stability, should be raised in the future. Nuclear power generation, which does not generate CO2, is a useful energy source and is also part of the measures against global warming.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 16, 2018)
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
