POSITIVE NEWS - What went right this week: ‘positive tipping points’, plus more
Posted 27th January 2023 • Written by www.positive.news • • • • •
New research fuelled climate optimism, fossil fuels reached a peak, and six lifestyle choices were found to slow dementia, plus more good news
Positive tipping points’ offered hope
Most people are familiar with climate tipping points: one component of a fragile ecosystem collapsing, sparking a chain of irreversible disasters.
But academics from the University of Exeter in England have tipped the notion of tipping points on its head, claiming that breakthroughs in low-carbon technologies could trigger an unstoppable wave of decarbonisation, or what they call positive tipping points.
In research published this week, the university said that small policy interventions to promote electric cars, green fertilisers, and plant-based alternatives to meat could give low-carbon solutions the edge over their CO2-belching equivalents, unlocking rapid emissions cuts.
“With time running out, there is a need to be targeted,” said Mark Meldrum of the consultancy Systemiq, which helped produce the research. “Our report spotlights key opportunities to effect change that can produce huge returns in terms of decarbonisation.”
The world ‘reached peak fossil fuels for electricity’
“It’s all over except the shouting.” That’s the conclusion of a report into the role of fossil fuels in the electricity sector.
Published this week, it suggests that the world has reached peak fossil fuels for electricity generation. It forecast solar and wind capacity to increase at least threefold by the end of the decade, “pushing fossil fuel electricity into terminal decline”.
The research was compiled by the Rocky Mountain Institute, a US nonprofit. It echoes similar findings by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which last year predicted that global demand for fossil fuels would peak in the mid-2030s.
The IEA said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sped up the transition towards renewable energy, despite prompting a short-term rush to burn coal. Putin’s war, it added, was “a historic turning point towards a cleaner future.”
Meanwhile, the renewables race stepped up a gear
A global race to supercharge renewables appears to be under way.
According to The Times, the EU has drawn up plans to create a multibillion-euro package of state subsidies for green energy companies and electric car makers.
The move is a response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which passed last year. The $369bn (£298bn) climate, healthcare and tax stimulus offers generous tax breaks to renewable energy firms, and has fired the starting gun on a global race to entice green investment.
Preliminary analysis suggests that the IRA could cut US emissions by up to 44 per cent this decade.
Colombia called time on fossil fuels
The bell tolled for fossil fuels in Latin America this week too, with the Colombian government announcing that it would no longer approve new oil and gas projects.
Irene Vélez, Colombia’s minister for mines, made the announcement at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“We have decided not to award new oil and gas exploration contracts, and while that has been very controversial, it’s a clear sign of our commitment in the fight against climate change,” said Vélez. “This decision is absolutely urgent and needs immediate action.”