TOWARDS CLEAN ENERGY

The UN Climate Change Conference is being held in Paris. Delegates from 195 countries, including the leaders of nearly 150 countries, have met to discuss ways of preventing global warming that threatens humanity. The adoption of a new document replacing the Kyoto Protocol is a priority item on the agenda of the summit.

No more than two degrees Celsius

The Climate Change Conference kicked off in the context of a sharp aggravation of the international situation. It even affected the very venue of the forum, the French capital, which recently suffered from terrible acts of terrorism. By way of paying tribute to the victims of these atrocities, a moment of silence was observed at the opening ceremony of the summit. The whole of France is now living in a state of emergency, so it is not surprising that the conference is accompanied by enhanced security measures. Meanwhile, its subject matter is no less important for the future of humanity and the entire life on planet Earth than the long-awaited world order without war and violence.

The scientific community, including experts under the auspices of the United Nations, warns about the commencement of an epoch in the coming decades, which will be characterized by a shortage of fresh water, a global food crisis and a resulting famine in many countries, as well as an unprecedented growth in the number of natural disasters. Scientists believe that the main catalyst for these ills is the steady rise in temperature on the planet. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-tration, the average temperature on Earth has increased by 0.85 degrees Celsius over the last century, with almost all of the warmest years occurring at the beginning of the 21st century we are living through. A major cause of global warming, as suggested by most experts, is the greenhouse effect, enhanced by discharges of industrial and agricultural enterprises. In particular, the increased concentration of carbon dioxide leads to the additional retention of solar heat. The situation is further aggravated by active deforestation, despite the fact that forests absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.

It is believed that the global warming is caused primarily by developed countries. A similar opinion is shared by representatives of the anti-globalization movement, the left-wing radical and environmental organizations, which met the participants in the Paris climate summit by protest actions. To pacify the demonstrators, police had to resort to tear gas and detain more than 300 most active "protesters".

Meanwhile, stakes in a showdown over the "right" environment are truly high - if a new global agreement which is to replace the Kyoto Protocol after 2020 and provides for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is not adopted, the planet will face serious consequences. Further-more, experts say that the poorest nations such as Bangladesh, Chad, Niger, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and the Central African Republic will be among the first to experience the consequences of global warming. To avoid such an adverse scenario, UN experts deem it vital to prevent the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere for more than two degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

It should be underscored that the leaders of the major powers, who are accused of conducting anti-environmental policies, recognize the threat posed by global warming for the whole planet. Thus, US President Barack Obama said that global warming has negative consequences both for the global economy and for security. He urged the participants in the conference to develop an international agreement which would help improve the ecology of the planet and, at the same time, be a stimulus for the growth of the world economy.

Russia is also in favour of replacing the Kyoto Protocol, currently covering no more than 14 per cent of global greenhouse emissions, with a new document. Advocating the creation of a solid economic and political basis for achieving one of the main goals of the century - limiting the increase in global temperature to two degrees Celsius, Moscow believes that the states parties to the Paris Conference must retain the sovereign right to determine what mechanisms should be used to reduce total greenhouse emissions.

While declaring Russia's readiness to undertake serious commitments on the issue of climate, Russian President Vladimir Putin assessed the positions of developing countries in these words: "If we now put a heavy burden of restrictions related to emissions, payment of fines, etc. on emerging economies, then it will become a means of containment of their development". In the view of the Russian president, emerging econo-mies need assistance through UN mechanisms, so that they can achieve a higher level of technological development and will not be hog-tied with restrictions on emissions.

Developed and developing

The position of the developing countries seems to be almost a decisive factor in overcoming the climate problem. Unlike the advanced economies that agree to the overall reduction of harmful emissions, many of these countries presume that fossil fuels provide growth for their economies and allow them to earn money for the transition to the use of clean energy in the future. The example of India, which is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is highly demonstrative in this context. According to Delhi, restrictions on the use of non-renewable energy sources, especially coal, will lead to the collapse of the country's economy and adversely affect the already poor population.

While the Indian climate control programme provides for the growth of renewable energy, it nevertheless declares that the country's emissions from coal usage will increase threefold in the coming decades. Furthermore, Delhi is perhaps most vociferous in raising the question who is to blame for climate change. Speaking at the Paris Conference, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that his country was not to blame for climate change, though it "feels the effects of prosperity and progress akin to those of the industrial age", when the growth of a number of states was due to the use of fossil energy. Then he concluded: because the level of development of many countries does not allow them to use alternative energy sources, "the principle of climate justice demands that developing countries have enough room to grow".

On the whole, India's arguments are accepted by developed countries. In particular, French President Francois Hollande admitted that "developed countries should bear the main responsibility for climate change". As a goodwill gesture, Paris announced its intention to allocate 6bn euros over a period of four years for providing African countries with electricity. Of these, 2bn euros will be used towards the implementation of renewable energy programmes. A similar decision was made by Germany, which is going to allocate 3bn euros for the implementation of analogous programmes. In addition, Berlin has doubled (to 4bn euros) its annual financial assistance to developing countries to combat global warming.

A special position at the Paris summit was demonstrated by Sweden, which announced its intention to become the world's first country free from fossil fuels. By the way, this country is the largest (in terms of per capita) donor of the International Climate Fund set up based on the results of the Copenhagen climate summit held in 2009. Speaking at a briefing in Paris, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven expressed confidence that the expansion of alternative energy sources would contribute to economic growth, in particular, create jobs.

Gates on the scene

Not only individual leaders of the world are demonstrating their awareness that there is a connection between the development of clean energy and economic growth. Among the main characters at the Paris Conference was Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates who announced his new Breakthrough Energy Coalition project. It is about establishing a coalition for funding renewable energy sources. This initiative of Gates was supported by 28 billionaires including Alibaba's CEO Jack Ma, Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg, HP's Meg Whitman and Virgin Group's Richard Branson.

Gates is convinced that reducing the global dependence on fossil fuel would "help millions more people escape poverty and become more self-sufficient" and "stabilize energy prices, which will have an even bigger impact on the global economy". In addition, the Microsoft cofounder believes that reducing the cost of clean energy generation will best of all encourage poor countries to switch over to alternative energy sources without sacrificing economic growth. After all, clean energy can make air conditioners, refrigerators, electric cookers and fertilizers more available for the poor.

Gates sees the role of private companies in developing breakthrough clean energy solutions. Above all, in introducing renewable technologies like the wind and solar, which will be "one path to a zero-carbon energy future". However, the activity of companies in this sector should certainly be based on "basic research" that only governments can fund.

Thus decisions that may be adopted at the Paris Conference are made dependent on whether the leading powers manage to prompt developing countries, first of all India, for a decision to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a more advanced climate document and whether governments of the world support this initiative of Bill Gates and others richest people of the world who share his views. The latter task seems to be nearing its implementation as Gates has doubled his investments in the energy sector to 2bn dollars and persuaded a number of governments to commit to doubling, by 2020, their investments in research to develop zero-carbon energy sources. The commitments suggested by Gates and assumed by some countries including the USA, China and India, made up the Mission Innovation project.

As regards the final document of the Climate Conference that would set a new bar for efforts to prevent global heating, its signing is still open to question. And this remains the main intrigue of the Paris forum ending on 11 December.