Global warming: Brazil, China, United States and Russia, leaders playing with fire

In the midst of the tragic cold spell that plagues the United States with Antarctic temperatures, President Donald Trump has made fun of global warming. "In the beautiful Midwest, the temperature of the wind drops to -51 ° C, the highest cold recorded.In the coming days, the thermometers should fall further.People can not be outside even a few minutes. what is happening with global warming? please, come back soon, we need you! ", he writes on Twitter.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a government agency itself, immediately denied it. "Winter storms do not prove that global warming is not happening," he tweeted.

That the White House tenant so abruptly ignores the consequences of climate change on the Earth is nothing more than the nudity of the place these issues occupy on the agenda of the powers. This is not just happening in the United States, second in the ranking the most polluting countries.

China (number one), Russia and Brazil, well placed in the top ten, are not willing to reduce their "contributions" to environmental pollution if it means a drag on their economies.

Trump does not trust the green economy. Vladimir Putin hangs on gas and oil; Xi Jinping, to coal, to maintain uninterrupted growth for 40 years, and Jair Bolsonaro, the burning president of Brazil, announced that he would support the investments of agribusiness enterprises in the Amazon, even if they destroyed protected areas and Aboriginal communities.

The four nations are reluctant to the Paris Agreement, the agreement reached by 197 countries in 2015 to prevent the Earth's temperature rise by more than two degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels (1880-1899 ).

As part of this pact, each state has devised its own plan of action, but according to the United Nations "the sum of these plans is not enough to limit climate change below 2 ° C. For that, it is essential that they reinforce its strategies to achieve the Paris Agreement and increase the ambition to fight against climate change ".

United States, more dioxide

On June 1, 2017, Trump held one of the promises of his campaign and pulled his country out of the climate deal.

Far from a green future, where clean and renewable energies will proliferate, the president is attached to the old fossil fuel economy.

In 2018, according to the Rodhium Group independent company, carbon dioxide emissions in the United States grew by 3.4%, the largest increase in eight years, even after the closure of a number record of coal mines in the country. .

According to the report, greenhouse gas emissions across its energy sector increased by 1.9%.

The clumsiness and indifference of the leader of the White House are endless. He replied "I do not believe it" when he received a report from his own government.

In a little over 1,600 pages, the text entitled "National Climate Assessment" details precisely the effects that climate change will have on the country's infrastructure, economy, public health and coastlines: "Climate change transform where and how we live, and represents a growing challenge for public health and the quality of life, the economy and the natural systems that help us live."

You do not have much memory to remember natural disasters (tropical storms, floods, droughts, forest fires and heavy snowfall). Since 2015, the United States has suffered damage amounting to $ 400 billion due to climate disasters.

In mid-January, Trump confirmed Andrew Wheeler, a defender of the coal industry, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an organization dedicated to environmental preservation.

Fortunately, there is the Green New Deal, a package of proposals to combat global warming and the financial crisis that the younger generations of Democratic representatives have brought to Washington. Among other objectives, it proposes to completely renew the structures of the country in accordance with the parameters of sustainability.

But even if Trump turns his back on Paris, states like California, New York or Mbadachusetts remain committed to promoting the green economy. Even entrepreneur Michael Bloomberg pays, through his foundation, the $ 4.5 million climate treaty quota.

Russia and emissions

If, a few days ago, the United States and Russia could not hide their differences and ended up withdrawing from the nuclear disarmament agreement (INF), they had some similarities with the climate issue.

Together with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the four countries joined together to lighten the conclusions of the Katowice summit held last December in Poland. Basically, they are not willing to reduce their gas emissions, a demand that, if it were to materialize, would strongly affect the oil and gas dependent economies.

Russia has signed but has not ratified the Paris Agreement. Vladimir Putin's country alone accounts for 7.5% of all world emissions.

According to Climate Action Tracker estimates, in the absence of a change of direction, Russia's emissions in 2020 will be 4% higher than in 2015. And by 2030, 11%. This organization describes the situation in Russia as "absolutely inadequate".

In agreement with Trump, the Russian president made unfortunate statements about climate change. Some time ago, he did not hesitate to say that "global warming is not the fault of man".

"The warming began in the 1930s. At that time, there were no factors such as greenhouse gas emissions and warming had already begun," he added. "The problem is not how to stop it, because it's impossible, because it could be related to some global cycles of the Earth." The challenge is how to adapt. "

Putin goes further and even sees good economic opportunities if temperatures in the Arctic rise and allow investment.

"Melting glaciers could be a good thing," he said. A little more than hilarious, plus coming from someone who had warned a long time ago that the quality of human life was linked to climate change.

China and coal

While China has ratified the Paris Agreement and is a leader in the production of solar energy, its monstrous reliance on coal has placed it in the most polluting country in the world.

There is a devastating fact. Only the five provinces that unite the majority of the country's industries emit more dioxide than any other country in the world.

However, several years ago, China presented its five-year plan (2016-2020) entitled "Green is gold". Through this document, the country is committed to reducing its water consumption by 23% by 2020; that of energy, by 15%, and CO2 emissions per unit, by 18%.

One of the ongoing projects is large-scale carbon capture and storage.

According to a report by the BBC, it is about retaining and retaining the carbon dioxide resulting from productive activity. Then he is transported and injected into the ground, where he is buried.

But that's not all. According to experts, it is possible to transport CO2 in the oilfields, using heat and injection of gas or chemicals, to use it in the extraction of crude oil in the areas where doing it with traditional mechanisms is more complex.

However, China is also working on projects to reduce coal consumption by 10% in key areas such as Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong and Henan, and limit the production of steel, coke and aluminum until 2020. In addition, the goal of selling two million electric cars a year was set (the government had demanded that, by 2025, a vehicle sold on five in the country use alternative fuels).

Many experts say that the future of the planet depends a lot on China's leadership.

Brazil and deforestation

"The climate agreement is a UN plan to remove our sovereignty over the Amazon." It was one of the many controversial sentences of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, the far right who, after being a marginal MP, was struggling with the fate of the South American giant.

Bolsonaro challenges the Paris agreement and does not hide its interest in reducing environmental fines. "Bolsonaro thinks that climate change is a matter of screaming activists," said Suzana Kahn, former secretary of state for climate change of the Lula Da Silva government, between 2008 and 2010.

The former military, who took power on January 1 of this year, named Ricard Salles as Minister of the Environment, for whom the debate on climate change is "a secondary issue". In addition, Salles was recently found guilty by a court of fraudulently favoring mining companies when he was Secretary of the Environment in San Pablo.

Not long ago, figures were revealed about deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

While the deforestation rate of the "lung of the world" decreased by 75% between 2004 and 2017, the satellite monitoring program of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) revealed a 14% increase in 2004 the opening of new areas in the rainforest.

A total of 7,900 square kilometers of native forest were lost between August 2017 and July 2018.

"Climate change is a dogma that has been used to justify the increasing power of state regulation over the economy and the power of international institutions over states and their populations," said the Minister of Foreign Affairs. foreign Ernesto Araujo, a self-proclaimed anti-globalization.

Among the measures envisioned by Bolsonaro in environmental matters, one of the most discussed is to free the agro-food industry from the dependence of imported fertilizers (75% comes from abroad) and to invest in local production. which would imply greater environmental damage due to increased potbadium deposits.

Specialist Anthony Pereira, a professor at King's College London, said that as soon as he took office, Bolsonaro had signed an interim measure transferring to the Ministry of Agriculture the authority to demarcate indigenous lands from the Ministry of Education. Justice. According to Pereira, "it is very likely that, as promised, no new indigenous reserve will be created".

The recent disaster caused by the collapse of the Minas Gerais dam, which caused 121 deaths and 226 disappearances due to the avalanche of iron ore waste, has significantly altered certain positions of the government of Jair Bolsonaro.

Salles, who said the priority given to economic development would bring more resources for environmental preservation, said that after the tragedy, the priority was now "that the best dam practices be implemented and that economic problems remain in second place ".

At the same time, Vice President Hamilton Mourao said that it was necessary to "severely punish" the Brumadinho Dam officials, alluding to the board of directors of the Vale mining company ( mainly public).

But he went further: "We must preserve our planet in every possible way, otherwise we will have to live on Mars."

Lack of interest in the environment has caused international friction at Bolsonaro. At the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, French President Emmanuel Macron said that there would be no agreement between the EU and Mercosur if the president Brazilian insisted that he could withdraw from the Paris agreement.

It should be noted that, for budgetary reasons, Brazil has resigned as the seat of the 25th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 25), which will be held in Chile in November.

A threat that requires a global response

"Climate change is a global threat that calls for a global response from the international community," said Juan Verde, the man who led Barack Obama to Argentina and who chairs the Advanced Leadership Foundation, whose goal is to promote "the economy". green. "

For this reason, he thinks that President Donald Trump's statements about extreme cold in the United States are a travesty of global warming. "It's nonsense." I think his statements hurt the world and the citizens of the United States, as polls show that 72% of the American population wants the government to do more, by no means less, to protect the environment, "he warned. .

Verde argues that it is "Trump and those who run the Republican Party that go the other way". He stated that these comments "are related to wanting to justify his departure from the Paris Agreement". "If it is not the case, there is no explanation for such an awkward and irrational statement," he said.

However, he maintains: "The departure of President Trump from the agreement and the withdrawal of the major world powers slow down the inevitable, even if they do not deviate from it".

For the leader of the advanced leadership, "the world will be much more environmentally friendly and responsible for the environment, and the United States is no exception." Beyond Trump's attitude, he thinks that "the perception that the United States is on the opposite path and does not believe in climate change is absolutely wrong."

According to the expert, "the majority of the American people are aware of climate change". He says that Trump does not represent the popular will and adds: "Even though the Republican administration that governs today is not going in the direction of the logic and common sense of the international community, we do not believe it. 39, saw with his decision to move away from the agreement, realized a citizen mobilization for the environment that has not been seen in the United States since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. "

In this sense, he states: "The Alliance of Governors for the Environment has been created and 22 of the 50 signatories have already signed this agreement, which commits them individually to ensure that their states respect the Paris Agreement: Mbadachusetts, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, California, all of this contradicts the notion that, in practice, the United States has abandoned the Paris Agreement. "

For the leader of the advanced leadership, "long-term development policies" are the way to go to achieve green economic development. He is convinced that the economy "is moving towards a sustainable model" and that "this can change the speed, but not the direction of change".

It defines a sustainable economy as "one that understands that it can and must achieve very positive results and at the same time be environmentally responsible". And he adds: "Companies can win with a sustainability model in which we can all earn a lot for a long time, and for that, you need, as I said, a long-term economy . "

"I would dare to say that sustainability, from an economic point of view, makes sense beyond the ethical point of view," he says with conviction.

Ranking of the most sustainable and least sustainable countries

In the list of the most sustainable countries in the world, the leading country is Switzerland, with an environmental performance score of 87.42, according to data from the chair of the Foundation for Leading Edge Leadership, Juan Verde. "His performance is solid in most of the categories evaluated by the indicator, not only in terms of quality of life, but also in terms of air quality and water quality," he says. energy and protection of the environment, "he explains.

Other European countries occupying the top positions are: France (83,95), Denmark (81,60), Malta (80,9), Sweden (80,51), United Kingdom (79,89), Luxembourg ( 79.12), Austria (78.97), Ireland (78.77) and Finland (78.64).

In general, the high scores of these countries demonstrate a long-standing commitment to protecting public health, preserving natural resources and separating greenhouse gas emissions from economic activity, said Verde.

The worst-performing Asian countries on the continent and in the world are Nepal, India and Bangladesh, which occupy the positions of 176, 177 and 179, respectively.

The Latin American countries are in the lead of Costa Rica, which ranks 30th, while the country with the worst score is Guyana, ranked 128th.