Seems completely impossible - despite the "last warning"

Wolfgang Hansson

Despite the last warning: That's why we have such a hard time changing  

Published: Today 19.24  

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's.

Joe Biden has given the go-ahead to new oil wells in Alaska, even though he promised the opposite in the 2020 election. Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP  

COLUMNISTS  

This week the world received a final climate warning.  

Yet just days before the UN announcement, Joe Biden gave permission to extract new oil in Alaska.  

How can that be possible? It appears as a hole in the head.  

But there are explanations for why we find it so difficult to adjust.  

The UN:s latest climate report is a serious warning to humanity.  

We have one last chance to save our planet from irreparable damage if, by 2030, we implement strong reductions in emissions.  

Nowadays, almost all politicians and other decision-makers agree on what needs to be done. And that the situation is urgent.  

Yet it seems almost impossible to bring about the necessary changes.  

US President Joe Biden's decision to give the go-ahead to depend on new oil sources in Alaska, even though he promised the opposite in the 2020 election, is just one of many examples of how the world continues to open up new oil and gas sources even though everyone knows that we must stop using fossil fuels.  

The British government has given the green light for a new coal mine to be in operation until 2049. The first in three decades. 

Decisions that seem completely illogical and downright stupid. But there are explanations.  

The problem is that it's not just about turning off the fossil fuel tap.

No country is ready to give up oil, coal and fossil gas unless it is absolutely sure that it can be replaced with something else that is just as reliable. Photo: AP  

Gap in ability  

What would be needed is two wires next to each other. One with the fuels we use today and one with renewable energy that is ready to be plugged in the moment the fossil tap is turned off.  

Before the old ones are phased out, there must be new ones to phase in.  

Although the construction of wind turbines and solar panels is absolutely exploding in large parts of the world, not enough renewable fuels are being produced yet.  

Newly elected Democratic congresswoman Mary Peltola from Alaska sums up the situation quite well:  

- We all realize the need for cleaner energy, but there is a gap between our ability to produce it and our daily needs. 

Problem number two is that the renewable energy sources, apart from hydropower, can be stored for far too short a time. They basically have to be used the moment they are produced. A decisive disadvantage compared to today's fossil fuels.  

Energy is an absolutely fundamental product for our prosperity and for almost all human activity in today's world. No country is ready to give up oil, coal and fossil gas unless it is absolutely sure that it can be replaced with something else that is just as reliable. 

No one points with the whole hand  

In order not to risk ending up in a situation later on where energy shortages occur, countries continue to grant permits to look for and extract new deposits. The slightest uncertainty about the availability of oil, gas and coal produces immediate and sharp price increases as Putin's invasion of Ukraine demonstrated. 

It doesn't help that the independent International Energy Agency, IEA, has determined that the only way for the world to reach its climate goals is for not a single new fossil source to be used.  

Nowhere is there any overall control over the phasing out of fossil fuels and the phasing in of renewables. Neither for the world as a whole nor for individual countries.  

The idea is that our economic system will manage this on its own with some steering from political decisions. It is a very slow process in a situation where speed is required.  

Some kind of central planning would be needed. Someone who is allowed to point with the whole hand.  Which has not exactly become easier to gain acceptance for in a world where the great powers are on a collision course. 

Europe's largest wind farm, Markbygden outside Piteå. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson

Irresponsible priorities  

But above all, more renewable and fossil-free energy must be produced. Even though the rate of increase is great today, it is not enough. And there are way too many obstacles in the way.  

At the beginning of the year I visited Europe's largest wind farm Markbygden outside Piteå. There, after 18 months, they were still waiting for permission to build higher and more efficient wind turbines on land where they already have the green light for lower wind "last warning"  

Dagens Nyheter wrote this week about a new report which reveals that 73 percent of all applications for new wind turbines in Sweden were stopped by the municipalities in 2022. This in a year when all decision-makers, even at the local level, must have realized that we are facing an energy crisis. But instead of prioritizing Sweden's best interests, they chose to favor local interests. In a natural way.  

But if everyone does it, how will Sweden (and the same applies in other countries) be able to produce enough renewable energy?  

Germany will close its last three nuclear power plants in a month or so. This while struggling to replace Russian fossil gas. The closure takes place for purely ideological reasons and, in the light of climate change, appears rather irresponsible. 

The examples can be multiplied of how we know what needs to be done but still act in the opposite direction.  

There is too much at stake in the short term for the politicians to dare to look up and make the far-reaching long-term decisions that are required.