European academies environment expert warns of “vicious circle” of disasters without economic reform
A wholesale change of the world’s economic system is needed to tackle the global climate change and biodiversity crises, according to the head of environmental issues for a European learned academies group that provides advice to policymakers.
“Relying on the current system to deliver the necessary reductions [in greenhouse gas emissions] is not going to work,” professor Michael Norton, environment director for the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (Easac), said on 24 August.
“The GDP-based economic system in which fossil fuel, food and agricultural interests are driving up CO2 levels, deforestation, land clearing and overfishing is no longer fit for purpose if atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases must be cut in as short a period as possible.”
Emission reductions needed
Norton was speaking following the publication earlier this month of the latest report from the United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which said that “strong and sustained” reductions in greenhouse gas emissions “would limit climate change”, albeit with temperature stabilisation lagging by 20-30 years.
Shortly after the IPCC report was released, Easac published a commentary saying that the climate and biodiversity crises should be treated as one, and emphasising “the need for fundamental and transformative change in the way economies are managed and incentivised”.
“Transformative change involves large shifts in attitudes and behaviour, and encounters strong resistance from vested interests including those related to fossil fuels and unsustainable land use,” the Easac commentary said.
Norton warned that climate change and biodiversity loss “potentiate each other in their disastrous consequences”. He said: “It’s a vicious circle not only leading to extreme weather but also collapsing food systems, and increasing risks of […] health impacts.”
Springboards for change
The Easac commentary referred to the upcoming UN conferences on climate change and biodiversity in Glasgow, UK, and Kunming, China, later this year as “potential springboards for the changes required”, adding that “negotiators have the opportunity to take coordinated, bold and transformative action”.
According to the commentary, more research is needed on large-scale, long-duration electricity storage. It also called for closer collaboration at all levels between those working on biodiversity and climate change.
In another report, published on 28 August, the European Environment Agency said more research is needed to ensure that green-energy technologies are themselves recyclable at the end of their lifetimes.
Recycling wind turbines and solar panels will be a complex business, the report said, but clean-energy infrastructure is set to grow thirtyfold over the next decade and is resource-rich with rare earth elements as well as materials such as steel, copper and glass available for recovery.