Not only is the burning of fossil fuel environmentally damaging, but reserves of the materials are depleting fast. However, the fossil fuel industry is still going strong, with governments apparently happy to let it continue unabated until the well literally runs dry.
The Guardian has pinpointed eight actions that the world’s politicians should make in order to curtail this industry and make a more significant shift to renewable and non-fossil energy production.
It suggests making climate change a proper part of party manifestos so the public are actively voting for MPs with the environment on their agenda; ending state subsidies to coal, oil and gas companies; issuing expensive ‘permits to emit CO2’, or taxing polluters, to encourage behaviour change; convincing states and corporations to stop buying their energy from these traditional suppliers; banning flaring (where gas is burned wastefully at oil production sites); making it mandatory to capture the CO2 emitted when burning fossil fuel, and to store it; persuading big investors to stop their financial backing of these companies; and issuing market reports that show the financial impact of climate change on company performance.
further reading…
Not only is the burning of fossil fuel environmentally damaging, but reserves of the materials are depleting fast. However, the fossil fuel industry is still going strong, with governments apparently happy to let it continue unabated until the well literally runs dry.
The Guardian has pinpointed eight actions that the world’s politicians should make in order to curtail this industry and make a more significant shift to renewable and non-fossil energy production.
It suggests making climate change a proper part of party manifestos so the public are actively voting for MPs with the environment on their agenda; ending state subsidies to coal, oil and gas companies; issuing expensive ‘permits to emit CO2’, or taxing polluters, to encourage behaviour change; convincing states and corporations to stop buying their energy from these traditional suppliers; banning flaring (where gas is burned wastefully at oil production sites); making it mandatory to capture the CO2 emitted when burning fossil fuel, and to store it; persuading big investors to stop their financial backing of these companies; and issuing market reports that show the financial impact of climate change on company performance.