Stubborn Optimism for a Net Zero Future and Beyond

On Saturday night I sacrificed some social time for study as part of the University of Cambridge Business and Climate Change: Towards Net Zero Emissions course I have started through Tenfold and wasn’t disappointed. We had a 90 minute live zoom session with our tutors and my mind is alive with reflections and in the spirit of ‘give forward’ I felt compelled to share some of the learning and resources shared.??

At the beginning of the session, we were asked via Mentimeter to reflect on “What one word do we feel about Climate Change?”. I shared “hopeful”. With all the pessimism out there, I think it’s useful to try and be hopeful or a ‘stubborn optimist’ as Prince William described it in this “Climate of Change” Audible Podcast episode hosted by Cate Blanchett and Danny Kennedy.??

As I shared in our online discussion forum, I'm not a huge fan of the scare tactics used in climate change communication as I feel they trigger a ‘flight or flight’ stress response which cannot always be helpful.???

I think positive and emotive film is a powerful medium to communicate the impacts of climate change, for example David Attenborough's documentaries and a recent "Regenerating Australia" 17 minute short film released during Earth Hour in partnership with the WWF AU which we’re looking forward to organising a screening of for the Tenfold community later this year.??

I think we need to keep an abundant and optimist mindframe to communicate the potential of a low carbon future. Here in Australia for example we could become a renewable energy export superpower as the WWF AU are advocating by 2030!.

Topics we discussed on the virtual call included production versus consumption, the Paris Agreement, the IPCC report and what this means for the countries where we currently live. The vision of a global common price for carbon was asked about and not much hope was shared due to the many differing political agendas and not having a global governing body.??

When I first entered discussions in this area, I found it hard to keep up with the myriad of terms and phrases so wanted to share some key elements that may inform your learning:?

• Rising Global Temperatures - The worry is the rising global temperature we are experiencing and what happens as these increases. For example, if the world's temperature rises by 1.5 degrees Celsius it is likely that 70-90% of coral reefs will die off worldwide and at 2 degrees Celsius several glaciers and mountain rivers will start to disappear.??
• The Paris Agreement was designed to help strengthen climate action worldwide and keep a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius. This graph below really hit me when working through module 1 of the rising CO2 emissions which are a large contributor to the energy imbalance causing the earth’s temperature to rise. One of our tutors shared every .1 degree of warming prevented is good news. It was great last year to raise more global heightened awareness of Climate Change at COP26 which we need to keep front of mind.

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a UN body that evaluates Climate Science, unfortunately not enough people have come across this work from leading scientists and there is too much business as usual.??
• Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions – In short, Scope 1 are direct Green House Gas (GHG) emissions that are controlled by an organisation, Scope 2 are indirect emissions through the power you consume, and Scope 3 are all other indirect emissions through supply chains. There was talk of the value in another category to measure how what you’re doing helps eliminate emissions elsewhere.?I thought this figure below helps highlights the three scopes used to measure an organisation’s carbon footprint nicely (Adapted from: WRI & WBCSD, 2013:6).

• Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) was referenced as an iterative initiative to have targets reviewed.??
• The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the main global forum for climate change negotiations and currently has 197 members.??

After going through these terms and the lay of the land, we used a couple of Zoom breakouts for much smaller group discussions which was a great way to get to know some fellow course participants. In my first breakout, I was in a group with individuals located in Israel, Singapore and the UK. It was interesting to explore the differences affecting our countries / potential impacts of climate change. In the UK, the potential significant impact on food production was shared due to it being an island and having supply chains impacted. In Israel, the shrinking of the Dead Sea was mentioned and I spoke of our recent torrential flooding here in Australia. In Singapore inflation was noted.?

In my second breakout there was a strong financial services representation, and it was interesting to consider the financial transition of a sustainable future with topics including green mortgages and making properties more energy efficient with targets discussed. We also talked about how short-sighted election cycles can be detrimental to longer term thinking which was timely with the Australia election results being counted live.??

On a hopeful note, I was pleased to learn about Amsterdam’s climate neutral city plans and the potential all our cities have to be more environmentally friendly and livable including with less pollution, more bike riding and green spaces.??

To finish, our tutors reflected on the responses to a poll where we were asked ‘what will be the greatest impact that climate change will have on your life?’. Some answers included an impact on retirement with foundations eroding that had been set up, health and longevity impacts and negative consequences for our kids and grandkids.?

Considering this, they encouraged us to be bold and courageous with our assessments and plans to put our learning into action in this decade of action. Cheers to that!?

Love to hear any thoughts / reflections.??

Resources shared:?

• Our World in Data: How do CO2 emissions compare when we adjust for trade??
• In-depth Q&A: The IPCC’s sixth assessment on how climate change impacts the world?
• IPCC WGI Interactive Atlas?
• Carbon Brief: Analysis: Which countries are historically responsible for climate change??
• Greenhouse Gas Protocol: Corporate Standard and Greenhouse Gas Protocol: Scope 3 Evaluator?
• Azeem Azhar's Exponential View: Decarbonization by the Numbers (with Michele Della Vigna)?
• United Nations Climate Change: Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)?
• SBTI CORPORATE NET-ZERO STANDARD?