FOSSIL fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas have driven the economies of the world since time immemorial.
They have oiled the machinery and industries of all sectors of the world economies, be it in the well developed countries, developing countries and even those that have since stopped developing or rather failed to develop.
Environmental scientists have also come on board and dropped a bombshell that, the future of petroleum and dirty energy is up. We are not quite sure whether this is going to be anytime soon as the situation on the ground continues to suggest that, despite the euphoria about the renewable energy discourse, these dirty but rather critical forms of energy may not go anytime soon. Welcome to the painful truth.
The dearest wishes of the green campaigners and activists is to see these forms of energy being phased out yesterday.
This is simply because the move away from fossil fuels is aimed at protecting the natural resources as well as keeping the environment safe and clean.
In 2009, the G20 leaders met in Pittsburgh and agreed to phase out needless government-given support for fossil fuels. Surprisingly, this assertion is silent on the role of private players who have the capacity to keep the flames of these fuels burning.
Campaigners for renewable and clean energy point out that fossil fuels would enhance energy security, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and bring immediate economic gains.
This rather sounds as the most encouraging piece of plain truth of modern day history and the 21st century but the indirect passive resistance and double-speak on this issue has shown that the promises have come to nothing. Double speaking in the sense that, the USA which is a major advocate of cutting down on carbon emissions is not a signatory to the Kyoto protocol, adopted in 1997 and commissioned in 2005.
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The Kyoto protocol commits its parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets.
If one looks closely at what is happening around the world, they will be forgiven to note that exploration for these fossil fuels is unbelievably higher.
Deposits of fossil fuels are being discovered at an alarming rate around the world, more than ever before. Even in our own Zimbabwe, explorations for natural gas are being feverishly undertaken. From my own understanding, we have not stopped exploring for new coal deposits.
Recent companies like Sengwa Colliery and Makomo would want to outsmart Hwange Colliery in contributing their significant chunk of carbon dioxide and methane into the Zimbabwean skies.
Zimbabwe is not alone in this game, as Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique are putting major footprints into coal mining.
Recently Botswana has built a large thermal power station in Palapye while South Africa is opening new coal mines in the Limpopo Province and Mozambique is also doing the same.
Then, if fossil fuels are supposed to be phased out, why are some countries in such a hurry to engage in a paradigm that is supposed to be phased out.
Even in the Annex 1 countries which include USA, UK, Australia, Russia, Japan and the European Union, the commitment to phase out fossil fuels lacks political will.
So, in this view, who is fooling who in this discourse of climate-cheating and green-spinning? The other problem is that China and India are neither Annex 1 nor Annex ll parties, but they are major polluters themselves.
If the powerful nations, who are at the same time, major polluters, stop playing language games, stop double-speaking and also improve their political will and commitment, the fossil fuels will be completely phased out.
But what would be the role of these major oil companies that have fleeced money from the whole world for centuries; Exxon, Chevron, BP Shell, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Rosneft and PetroChina, among others do?
Since they have mega-bucks already, it will not be surprising to hear that they have changed into Chevron Solar, Exxon Renewables or Total Clean-Technologies. Some analysts argue that, fossil fuels are non-renewable, they are limited in supply and will one day dry up.
The issue of drying up completely is out of question as the highly developed countries have not been mining in their own countries.
They have been and are still busy looting crude oil from developing countries such as Angola, Nigeria, The Gulf countries, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and recently in Uganda and Ghana, while citizens of these countries are languishing in poverty.
We shall all want to see how indeed the phasing out is going to be managed since fossil fuels, along with nuclear energy, supply 93% of the world’s energy resources.
It would be also interesting to note how the world is going to make do without 41% of oil, 24% of coal and 22% of natural gas. In this view, massive and mega investments in solar energy, wind energy and bio-mass would have to be instituted in both developed and developing countries.
Natural gas and nuclear energy are vital though they are non-renewable forms of energy.
The other renewable forms of energy are hydro-electricity, geo-thermal, tidal energy and wave power. My utmost sympathy and empathy goes to the developing countries, they did not initiate these changes or are they leading advocates of clean energy themselves.
Their duty is to swallow gullibly what is initiated from the mother of all countries.
What is important is for the world to make a gradual transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy without compromising the environment in a sustainable way.
This is important as responsible authorities would be able to measure the amount of carbon dioxide that would have been phased out from burning fossil fuels.
Already some countries like India and China as well as many European countries are reeling from effects of air pollution.
As such clean energy or low-carbon energy will do a lot to improve air they breathe and the people’s health.
Finally, these are the effects of the well celebrated globalisation that has come with these repercussions as a price for innovations.
It is also globalisation that has contributed much to this upsurge of greenhouse gas emissions.
This is not to say, let us throw away the positives of globalisation but let us use globalisation through clean energy development in order to achieve the desired goals.
All in all, we should not ever forget that it is the political will that should be smartened up for nations to embrace clean energy development.
Peter Makwanya is a Climate change communicator. He writes in his own capacity and can be contacted on: [email protected]
