Climate Change Action Cannot Wait for Complete Solutions

The climate crisis is not a future crisis; it is a modern disaster. Many reports from the world’s leading organizations such as IPCC, World Meteorological Organization, Copernicus Observatory, NOAA and others constantly warn that we must use everything we have to fight back.

The IEA and IRENA are some of the solutions that use the technologies that we have and should improve and provide roads to zero by 2050, usually there are more such roads and views.

This is not bad, of course, but the way forward is more difficult than knowing the answer. It is to ensure that these solutions are effective and are implemented to reduce or eliminate the output.

The problem is that existing technologies are often immature and dependent on developing markets. This creates a huge gap between the solutions we need and their real-world applications. However, even if perfect solutions are not yet available, inaction is not the answer.

Paying Weather Solutions

Another critical issue is the hidden cost of carbon, which affects health, agricultural productivity, property damage, and ecosystems.

The European quota system, for example, has seen costs of about $100, while recent studies, such as Adrien Bilal and Diego R. Känzig’s 2024 paper in the NBER Working Paper Series, show that the real cost of carbon sustainability is $1,600 per ton. for a one-degree increase in global temperature. So, who pays the $900 gap? We are far from paying the real price.

For an average diesel or gasoline car, this equates to a social cost of about $9 per US gallon. While European fuel prices already include special taxes, using the actual social cost would more than double current prices. This may not be very popular, but it’s a shocking fact: a fuel tax is the only place we’ve come close to covering the full social cost of carbon emissions.

Despite the high confidence of $699 per tonne, the key takeaway is that the social cost is much higher than the price being charged for the current output. This opportunity is paid for by everyone, especially those who are most vulnerable and have limited resources and no government can afford to pay the difference.

The results also show that climate change has been around for a long time, hidden in our growing population. The authors say the world’s GDP would be 18% larger than it is today if we hadn’t seen one degree of global warming since 1960.

It is true that paying the full social cost of carbon seems impossible, but increasing evidence shows that the costs of not doing so are even higher. For example, the former EU Commissioner for Science and Research and later the Environment, Janez Potočnik, recently confirmed at a conference that the devastating floods in Slovenia last year cost the country the equivalent of 16.9% of its annual income in 2023. This is true. another clear example.

As we look ahead to COP29 in Baku, the question of how to finance climate responsibility will take center stage. But as countries struggle to find ways to finance it, the climate crisis is rushing ahead of us.

The situation shows a Great Depression in its economic size and loss of productivity—a shock that only climate finance can begin to address.

Engaging in Words

Meanwhile, we find ourselves caught in debates about the best – looking at the inadequacies in strategies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) or hydrogen production – while the climate crisis continues down the path of destruction.

In Europe, for example, the debate about the cost, size, and necessity of CCS has continued for more than 20 years. Only now are the actual projects being delivered.

The European Commission’s latest strategy has a target of 50 million tons of CO₂ will be taken every year in 2030, rising to 450 million tons by 2050. While this is very admirable, it is difficult to see it happening at this time. If it takes another 20 years to ramp up CCS, we will miss the prospect of climate neutrality altogether.

A similar issue is playing out with hydrogen. Production and consumption are lower than expected, as indicated by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in their COP28 report.

While hydrogen is considered essential to the energy transition, we are not reaching the required benchmarks. The controversy in Europe over the use of natural gas to produce hydrogen is an indication of a larger issue: the solutions available are too expensive or mired in technical and safety concerns.

For example, the use of natural gas to produce hydrogen through processing or pyrolysis – methods that produce more CO.₂ for storage or solid carbon—being tested. It should be, but why not use foot analytics to guide updates instead of disrupting the results even if some of them change?

Recent articles, such as those published in The Guardianthey expressed concern about the growth and safety of these roads. But while the debate continues, the climate crisis goes unnoticed, and a very high price must be paid.

When Will We Hit the Panic Button?

In its progress report on the COP28 goals, the IEA reminds us more of our commitments. Despite promises to triple investment in renewable energy by 2030 and double energy consumption, the country is far from on track.

While emissions growth has slowed compared to 2022, we are still increasing emissions when we should be seeing reductions similar to what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Take, for example, advances in electric vehicles (EVs). While one in five cars sold is now electric—a huge improvement from the past few years—this achievement is not enough in itself.

China, by responding quickly, has taken the lead in the global EV market, while in the US, EVs remain a lifestyle or a political choice rather than a necessity for mobility. One extreme is in Norway, where the latest car sales figures show a 96.4% EV share.

Battery technology is improving, and photovoltaic (PV) systems are becoming more widespread and at prices that no one would have believed ten years ago. But even these resources are not enough when combined with other important areas such as CCS and hydrogen technology.

Energy efficiency, too, remains elusive. Despite the rapid growth in solar and wind energy, it does not limit the growth of annual energy consumption.

Short Term Action Long Term Problem

We can’t let short-term issues overshadow the bigger picture. We are already seeing the effects of climate change, from rising seas to food shortages and uninhabitable land.

The time to act is now—before we reach the tipping point where recovery is impossible.

COP29 starts in November. All eyes will be on this international conference to see if bold decisions will be made. Absolute solutions are not needed to take immediate, meaningful action that includes the real costs of climate change and biodiversity loss.