Painting the Picture of a Net Zero Future
“We need people to paint a picture of what actions we can take..and paint a picture of the future that we could live in.”
Peet Denny, (Getting to Carbon Negative’, Episode 6, Cool Hominids Podcast)
We often speak about the need for global transformative change in the fight against the climate emergency, but the target of reaching Net Zero by 2050 can seem both far away and hard to imagine. On Episode 6 of the Cool Hominids podcast, Peet Denny and guest speaker David Erasmus discuss the importance of ‘painting the picture’, both for ourselves and those around us, in order to inspire change.
If the realisation of the Net Zero target is based on a significant shift in the way we produce materials, build things and consume products and services, then the path to that shift is paved in understanding our history and present impact on the earth we inhabit.
In the podcast episode, David takes us through the cumulative carbon budget, (the amount of carbon that we can expel into the atmosphere), which stands at just under 400 Gigatonnes. It might sound like a lot, but when you consider that we’re expelling carbon into the air at a rate of 50 Gigatonnes per year, we start to see more clearly the impact of CO2 emissions, which directly affect global warming levels. The Paris Agreement set the target of keeping global average temperature rises to 2°C, and aiming for 1.5°C.
Community as a Superpower
“If our existence is to mean anything, then we must act in the interest of all of our people who are dependent on us”.
Mia Amor Mottley, Barbadian Prime Minister at Cop 26
So, what would happen if we can’t meet the targets we’ve set for ourselves? The IPCC report stressed the potential dangers of going above 1.5°C, at which point we would see significant risks and far-reaching impacts on climate, economies and humans, which would be harder to recover from. Two degrees of warming would lead to impacts on multiple ecosystems (destroying some), extreme weather, melting and agricultural damage.
We must also consider the human impact — in her speech at Cop26, the Barbadian Prime Minister, Mia Amor Mottley touched on the very real human and economic consequences that failure to reach 1.5°C could have, particularly on island and coastal nations, who are at the frontline of the impact of climate change.
In the global fight against time, community can be our superpower — at multiple levels and in different ways, we all have a part to play. In the Cool Hominids podcast episode, Peet and David touch on the work of activist groups like XR, reiterating the point that whilst groups like XR serve as instigators, we also need public pressure, policy makers, innovators and capital allocation and high risk venture capital to take the baton and work on actionable solutions.
This is where innovation and the work of startups comes into play. David Erasmus and OurCarbon focuses on helping businesses, individuals and governments start the journey to net zero through understanding their current footprint. Turning measurement to action, OurCarbon also supports planning ways to reduce and offset emissions.
TripShift is another exciting startup, looking at how we can measure the carbon emissions created by travel and create an understanding around how to make relatively small changes to reduce and offset the impact we have on the environment around us.
Whilst offsetting alone is not enough to achieve carbon neutrality, it raises important questions of where carbon accounting will be in 10, or even 5 years — can we envision a world where carbon accounting is as widespread and standard a business practice and consideration as financial accounting? In an economy where we place such emphasis on measurement, carbon accounting serves as a powerful way to remind ourselves of our responsibility to decarbonise and reduce our footprint through actionable insights.
Where do I go from here?
“If you want to see a change in people’s behaviour, then it needs to start in their hearts and minds. And if I want to see that (change) in someone else, I have to be willing to go there myself.”
David Erasmus (‘Getting to Carbon Negative’, Episode 6, Cool Hominids Podcast)
So where does that leave us as concerned citizens of the world, eager to play our part in fighting the climate emergency? We think that ‘understanding’ is a good place to start — information and knowledge can drive us to make changes and ensure that we are mindful of the need for change in an authentic way.
Cultural shifts often start with friends and families at the dinner table — this is how we can begin to influence decision makers in companies and policy makers at a governmental level to make more heartfelt change. In order to invent a new way of living, we need to spend time figuring out what that looks like or by looking at the experiences of someone who has explored new paths.
Comprehension of our impact is key — do you know how big your environmental footprint is? Carbon Footprint calculators are helpful in visualising our effect on the environment.
Have you been thinking about your carbon footprint? Try the carbon calculator and share your results with us — we look forward to hearing about the ways in which you’re recognising your footprint and exploring ways to reduce it.
