COP22 and the Tale of How One Person Can Save the World from Climate Change
Last year, the world agreed to a major climate deal in Paris. Just last week, the historic COP21 Paris Agreement officially came into force with 55 countries accounting for 55 percent of global emissions formally ratifying the deal with the overarching target to limit the rise in Earth’s mean surface temperature since pre-industrial times to 2 degrees Celsius by 2100.
Great. Now what? How do we actually achieve this target?
The yearly UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) is upon us. The world is on the hunt for solutions to our climate woes. And you could be part of the answer.
Since the first conference in 1995, the annual United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been one of the leading outlets for international discussion and agreement on climate change and environment. With the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 committing state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, these conferences have steadily been gaining momentum and global importance.
The UNFCCC brings together hundreds of the world’s leaders, scientists, activists, and entrepreneurs in order to devise a path towards achieving sustainability targets, reducing GHG emissions, and discussing the current state of the global climate. Last year’s historic climate change conference (COP21) brought forth the adoption of the Paris Agreement as the world’s first comprehensive climate agreement thus far, establishing a new course in the two-decade-old climate effort that had it’s beginnings in Montreal (the home of ENERj!).
It is now time for COP22 to take the reigns. Set to be a landmark session with 55% of greenhouse gas emitters ratifying the agreement, COP22 will take place in Marrakech, Morocco this November and will begin preparing for entry into force of the Paris Agreement and achieving the agreement’s priorities.
This year, Quebec’s Offices of International Youth (LOJIQ) selected 8 young entrepreneurs in the clean technology sector to attend COP22. Daniel Tarantino, one of our founders at ENERj, was selected and will be attending from November 7–12. Firm believers in the revolutionary power of innovation and entrepreneurship, we are particularly grateful for the opportunity afforded to us by LOJIQ and look forward to representing Quebec and Canada on the international stage.
We passionately believe in the potential of ENERj to meet the objective of COP22 for adaptation and innovation in mitigating the effects of climate change and meeting the GHG emission reduction goal. Using mobile phones to leverage individual actions for mass scale impact is no longer a dream, it’s a reality. We want to reignite the same passion to create change that started decades ago in Montreal by bringing an innovative way to combat climate change.
Our impact spreads beyond the local community to everyone across the world with a willingness to save energy. It’s a solution to the long standing climate change problem — the current message has become trite, yet addressing the issue has never been more important. We reject the idea of waiting for large scale actions to initiate conservation efforts. We can start being more energy efficient right now. With ENERj we want to put in every citizen’s hands the ability to affect that change and help reduce our energy consumption.
This is the COP of action. We hope to connect with you — utilities, public officials, business partners, investors, and motivated citizens that share our vision — locally or in Marrakech during COP22 to discuss how we can help bring energy savings to your region (and the world) not in 5, 10, or 15 years, but right now.
Join the conversation on Twitter at @ENERj_official as we become part of the action and solution towards a cleaner climate at this year’s COP22.
