As COP26 unfolds, we’ll hear a lot about how much wealthy countries have reduced their emissions. This is why you should remain sceptical
Decades of discussions about climate change and ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions should have put the world on a path to slow down the heating of our planet. Many of the largest polluters, historically, have claimed large greenhouse gas emissions reductions and embarked on paths to “green” their economies.
However, the picture changes once emissions from UK consumption are accounted for: the overall reduction is only 15 percent. Cambodia recently made a pivot towards coal, after its move to hydroelectric power hit a dead end due to a climate-change induced scarcity of water in the last few years. After six months of rolling blackouts affecting industry as well as citizens, the Cambodian government decided to build four new coal power plants - with financial support from China - including one based in Laos for exclusive Cambodian use. The latter is set to have a mammoth capacity of 2.
“We say that we've got coal out of our system, but actually what we've mainly got is manufacturing out of our system,” Parsons tells TRT World.The garment industry has long been subject to scrutiny for its human rights record, but its environmental footprint is no less problematic. It should come as no surprise that the advent of ‘Clothing and footwear productionfor 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than international flights and maritime shipping combined.
The shifting of production, in many cases from countries that have low-carbon electricity to countries where coal-based and older technologies are still in place and environmental regulations may not be as strict is known as “carbon leakage”. “The story needs to be about how to make sure that they are able to pursue that path in a way that has minimal greenhouse gas emissions,” Colenbrander tells TRT World. “Carbon leakage is definitely a problem for the planet if it creates an incentive for some countries to not introduce environmental regulation.”
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