Climate Change

Careers to Solve the Climate Crisis is a short series showcasing current and future careers that will be critical in achieving net-zero by 2050. Cambridge Zero’s Rosa Prosser produced six films to showcase the current and future careers necessary to achieve net zero by 2050. 

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7P8YYBiTmo  Episode one highlights the need for investment in green jobs and addresses how young people can help in the fight against climate change through their career choices. This episode features:  Nigel Topping: The High-Level Champion for Climate Action COP26
Caroline Lucas: Green Party MP for Brighton, Pavilion
Eliot Whittington: Director of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership’s Corporate Leaders Groups.

2. The Pubic Sector  https://youtu.be/kYSUAN1-W0U  How the public sector can lead the way to a decarbonised economy in our fight to tackle the climate crisis. This episode features interviews with:
Dimitri Zenghelis: A Special Advisor at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy
Cristina Peñasco: A university lecturer in public policy at the University of Cambridge
Richard Benwell: Chief Executive at Wildlife and Countryside Link.  

3.  The Built Environment https://youtu.be/5qx3ALZco6g  “The Built Environment”, looks at the various careers required to decarbonise the construction sector and highlights the importance of involving young people in this process. This episode features:
Shaun Fitzgerald: Director at the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge
Tercia Jansen Van Vuuren: A research associate at the Laing O'Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology
Gabriel Okello: A Prince of Wales Research Fellow at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.  

4. Nature-Based Solutions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdBoX5FSG8w “Nature-Based Solutions”, explores the potential for nature-based solutions to combat the climate crisis and the role jobs can play in a green economic recovery.  This episode features:
William Baldwin-Cantello: Director of Nature-Based Solutions at WWF-UK
Isabel Key: A research associate at the Nature-Based Solutions Initiative, University of Oxford.

5. Creativity and Innovation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EvStUSlvgk  “Creativity and Innovation”, addressed the need for creative thinking when it comes to finding new solutions to tackle the climate crisis. This episode features:
Nicola Davies: A children’s author
Pablo Salas: A Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellows at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
Dina Khalifa: A Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellows at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership

6. Inspiring Hope https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNlOqp_KziE   “Inspiring Hope”, emphasises the take-home message from the series – that young people can take an active role in the transition to net-zero through their career choices, and should feel empowered to do so across all sectors. It features interviews with:
Brighton Kaoma:Global Director at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network – Youth
Forget Shakera: An agronomic engineer and Co-founder at Chashi Foods
Mya-Rose Craig: A prominent British Bangladeshi ornithologist, environmentalist and diversity activist
George Jeffreys: A climate activist and Co-founder of Scoop.  

There’s an $80-billion hole in India’s net zero pledge by 2070 at Glasgow By Andy Mukherjee, Bloomberg Nov 10, 2021 https://m.economictimes.com/industry/renewables/theres-an-80-billion-hole-in-indias-net-zero-pledge-by-2070-at-glasgow/articleshow/87597623.cms

the world’s lowest-cost solar and second-lowest-cost wind producer can deliver on its pledge, provided a 6 trillion rupees ($80 billion) hole in the heart of the country’s power system can be filled.  That’s the quantum of accumulated financial liabilities at India’s electricity distribution companies, or discoms. This large overhang crimps their ability to pay on time, forcing them to run up operational debt to electricity suppliers and transmission firms. 

Without reforming this bankrupt industry, India will struggle to meet its bold target of raising non-fossil-fuel generation capacity — including hydroelectric and nuclear power — to 500 gigawatts by 2030, up from roughly 150 gigawatts now.

Climate change: World will need 'carbon sucking' technology by 2030s, scientists warn  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/11/world-will-need-carbon-sucking-technology-by-2030s-scientists-warn  11 Oct 2017

We’re going to have to deploy negative emission technology at scale,” said Bill Hare of Climate Analytics, a science and policy institute. “I don’t think we can have confidence that anything else can do this,” But efforts to store captured carbon underground are “showing no progress … and even backwards steps in some cases”, said Corinne Le Quéré, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia.

Similarly, planting more forests – a technology known as Beccs, or bioenergy with carbon capture and storage – raises questions about food security and land rights, scientists said.

 New methods to capture and store emissions, such as planting more forests and pumping carbon underground, 
are currently costly and need testing

Reframing incentives for climate policy action | Nature Energy https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-021-00934-2 PDF: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-021-00934-2.pdf 

The costs of generating solar and wind energy, which depend on location, have already or will soon reach parity with the lowest-cost traditional fossil alternatives and investment in low-carbon technologies is generating substantial new employment. 

The notion that a country should benefit from free-riding on other countries’ climate policies can also be challenged. Incremental decarbonization, increasing energy efficiency and the economic impacts of COVID-19 have led oil and gas demand and prices to decline substantially.  Changes in oil and gas prices, combined with slumps in production, may therefore have disruptive structural effects on high-cost fossil fuel producers, such as the United States, Canada, Russia and South America. Meanwhile, shedding expensive imports benefits gross domestic product (GDP) and employment in large importer regions, such as the European Union, China and India, as money not spent on expensive energy imports is spent domestically, and output is boosted by major low-carbon investment programmes.

Half world’s fossil fuel assets could become worthless by 2036 in net zero transition Jonathan Watts, Ashley Kirk, Niamh McIntyre, Pablo Gutiérrez and Niko Kommenda https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/nov/04/fossil-fuel-assets-worthless-2036-net-zero-transition  Thu 4 Nov 2021

Countries that are slow to decarbonise will suffer but early movers will profit; the study finds that renewables and freed-up investment will more than make up for the losses to the global economy.

It highlights the risk of producing far more oil and gas than required for future demand, which is estimated to leave $11tn-$14tn (£8.1tn-£10.3tn) in so-called stranded assets – infrastructure, property and investments where the value has fallen so steeply they must be written off.

Shankar Sharma (by email)  comments:  In India's case more than half of coal power assets can be expected to face
the likelihood of becoming worthless for various reasons... Will it stir their leaders from blindly supporting fossil fule based economic paradigm? .. Our leaders continue to commit our limited resources into these ill-conceived projects.. 

IF we are serious of pursuing net-zero, why is our climate policy should straight away disincentivise coal for instance and not expand its mining, destroying forests, and forest dwelling communities. 

Further the progress on the incentivisatiion of decentralised renewable energy  like solar roof tops and net-metering is slow or tortuous , which again will incentivise hand over of large land and other resources to large centralised farms, and transmission systems  in order to fulfill our international committments. . 

NET-NET: More than making International committments, we need incentivise and empower poor people to move directly into a post carbon economy & energy development  which they are in control of.