<figure class="
sqs-block-image-figure
intrinsic
">


























</figure>





























































<figure class="
sqs-block-image-figure
intrinsic
">


























<figcaption class="image-caption-wrapper">

Dashboard map for 2022 SDG Index Goal #13 ratings. Data source: sdgindex.org

</figcaption>


</figure>

CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production (tCO₂/capita)

One of the first things worth noting about SDG #13 is the Goal works in symbiosis with the UNFCCC’s Paris Agreement. The UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) is the primary international forum for tackling climate change. The UNFCCC and Paris Agreement are international agreements which your country has signed and ratified. Mentioned in the introductory chapter was the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, where the UNFCCC was adopted. Article 2 of the UNFCCC encompasses the treaty’s goal, which is:

“…stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”

So where does the Paris Agreement come into play? The history of the negotiations and their mechanics is demoralising, despite what I imagine to be the best efforts. Each year since 1995 (except for 2020, due to COVID-19) the Conference of the Parties (COP) has met. The COP are all the countries which signed the UNFCCC, which continue negotiations within the framework, to put into action the intention of the treaty.

You may remember having heard about the Kyoto Protocol in the past, which was to guide how the UNFCCC operated, intended to translate it from words on a page to mechanisms for action. The US Senate failed to adopt the Kyoto Protocol at the time of its signing by the Clinton Administration, nor did they reconsider under later Congresses thereafter. This was due to the Senate’s perceived unfairness of the treaty concerning the developing countries. China was the largest of these developing countries, thus free from being subject to the terms of the Protocol, as at the time of negotiation, developed countries were responsible for the most emissions. Thus, in many senses, without the participation of the largest emitter of all time - the US - the Kyoto Protocol was somewhat of a lame duck.

The COP invested much effort in an agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol at the summit in Copenhagen in 2009, but alas failed. The COP postponed the task to the 21st Conference of the Parties, meeting in December 2015 in Paris, a couple of months after the unanimous adoption of the SDGs. In Paris, all countries of the world reached an agreement to guide the glide path for the coming decades of decarbonisation. The Paris Agreement’s strength has been its meaningfulness to signal to the globe to decarbonise, with pathways planning toward this goal now in the mainstream. The world will leave behind industries and businesses failing to attend to this reality. Such businesses will strand their assets, and will have to account to irate shareholders why management failed to heed what was evident in the headwinds of a shifting status quo.

Two important numbers quantify Article 2 of the UNFCCC: 2°C and 1.5°C. We measure this temperature rise against the average temperature of Earth before the Industrial Revolution. The UN considers a rise of 2°C to give us a two-thirds chance to meet Article 2, revised down in the past couple of years to 1.5°C, which is scary since the increase is already about 1.2°.

Thus, highlighted below, Article 2a of the Paris Agreement calls us to:

“Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels…”

We measure the number of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere via ‘parts per million’ (ppm). In May 2022, the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were 418ppm. If we are to live according to Article 2 of the UNFCCC, we must limit this concentration to a level below what is considered dangerous human-caused climate change.

Because of the greenhouse effect, greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere. In the absence of these gases suspended in the atmosphere, sunlight would enter Earth’s atmosphere, reflect off the surface of the Earth, then exit the atmosphere. As the sunlight is trapped by these gases, the effect is a warming of the planet, much like sunlight trapped in a greenhouse. Across the globe, this effect causes climate change. The main greenhouse gases driving climate change are:

• carbon dioxide, emitted from the burning of oil and coal

• methane, from natural gas and cattle

The most notorious greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, of which the biggest source is fossil fuels, which are hydrocarbons - meaning their chemical mix is a combination of carbon and hydrogen atoms. When we burn fossil fuels, they create energy, but also release carbon dioxide.

The major fossil fuels are coal, oil and natural gas. Coal is a fossil fuel, combustible once extracted from the Earth’s rocks via mining. Likewise found in the geological formations of Earth is petroleum. As we have a solid in the form of coal, and a liquid in the form of petroleum, we also have a gas, known as natural gas, a hydrocarbon combination known as methane (one carbon atom, four hydrogen atoms).

The two biggest emitting countries by a wide margin are the US and China. The US is the biggest historical emitter, and China the current biggest emitter, with most of the latter's emissions from burning coal.

The biggest players in the petroleum industry split between public corporations and the OPEC member states, the latter acting as a cartel of countries. Many of the biggest emitting companies since 1988 are state-owned:

1. Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabian state-owned)

2. Gazprom (majority Russian state-owned)

3. National Iranian Oil Company (Iranian state-owned)

4. ExxonMobil

5. Coal India (Indian state-owned)

6. Pemex (Mexican state-owned)

7. Shell

8. BP

9. <a