Climate Change, Emissions Trading and Hydropower
“There is a lot wrong with our world. But it's not as bad as people think. Its actually worse”
Michael Meacher, UK Environment Minister, 2003. .
At the beginning of 2007, Mr Meacher's comments probably still stand. Compared with previous years 2006 was a “quiet” year for major climate incidents; no powerful hurricanes hit the coasts of the USA; nor did devastating tsunami strike in south-east Asia. However, this was probably fortuitous because 2006 was the world's hottest year on record and predictions are that 2007 will be even hotter.
In recent years there have been more frequent violent tropical storms around the world, exceptional droughts and floods, disappearing glaciers, faster rates of ice cap melting, reports that the Gulf Stream might “flip” to bring freezing winters to western Europe and the real prospect that many island communities will disappear under rising sea levels.
It is generally accepted that the underlying cause of these climatic events is global warming. The most comprehensive study of climatic history looked at tree rings and ice cores and revealed that the earth is warmer now than it has been at any time in the past 2,000 years. The 10 warmest years recorded were in the past 14 years. The warmest year of the last millennium was 1998. Sea levels have been rising throughout the 20th century and the growing season in Europe is 11 days longer than 35 years ago.
It is widely accepted that human activity has had an accelerating impact on global warming. There is hardly less consensus that something should be done and since the Earth Summit in 1992, the international community has worked towards a framework for tackling climate change – but at a painfully slow pace - to bring it under control and stabilise the atmosphere. The unspoken fear is that action will be too late, we shall fall into a spiral of increasingly violent and worsening weather conditions and increasing environmental destruction.
Climate change is not benign. It destroys environments, species and human lives. Analysis by the Red Cross and the Red Crescent of natural disasters over the past 33 years showed that 90% were weather related. In January 2004 a report published in Nature magazine warned that global warming would drive 25% of animals and plants to extinction by 2050. Global warming has brought about a noticeable increase in malnutrition as well as outbreaks of diarrhoea and malaria. Three UN agencies conservatively estimated that at least 150,000 people die each year as a result of global warming.
Governments, commerce and individuals are acting to reduce the human impacts on the climate. This paper attempts to give an overview of the various schemes and how today, and in the future, hydropower projects can play a role.
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