Climate-vulnerable nations’ hopes that the world was on the cusp of an agreement to rapidly phase out the use of fossil fuels at the COP28 climate summit were shattered when a new draft text emerged from negotiations drastically watering down such language.
Australian Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, speaking on behalf of the Umbrella Group of nations, which includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway and Canada, told the COP that the group could not sign the agreement as it stood.
The reason we don’t use renewables is that fossil fuels are much cheaper.
If one country goes alone in developing them, they and their citizens pay more for a very marginal benefit.
This is a collective action problem, individual countries acting by themselves aren’t going to solve it.
Not processing our waste water through water treatment plants is also cheaper. Our bodies dont care that the toxic water saved us some money, and earth’s climate doesnt care about our economy either.
Not processing our waste water leads to very local consequences, which is we process it. Adding to climate change is a global problem, any one country’s actions have relatively modest effects. So we don’t invest to stop it.
I’m not saying it’s a good thing. But it is a serious thing so we should be clear on the causes etc.
They are not cheaper.