We had a deal. On 12 December 2015, when the world signed the Paris Agreement, almost everyone agreed. Syria was a little late out of the starting blocks, but still ratified the agreement in 2017 and then everyone actually agreed. Then, Trump didn’t agree anymore, but the other day he exclaimed, “I’m a great environmentalist!” when he extended a ban on oil drilling off the coasts of Florida’s Georgia and South Carolina. Who knows, there might still be hope.
So, what were we agreeing on? Well, that we must stop acting as if there is no tomorrow, because then there will be no tomorrow. If we can keep global warming below 2°C, preferably below 1.5°C, there is hope that we can continue to live on this earth. That is what we agreed on in December 2015. Reasonable agreement. How are we doing?
How are we succeeding with the Paris Agreement?
This week, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s delivered a report to the government: Implementation of the Paris Agreement, with 34 ideas on how to succeed with the Paris Agreement. Sweden can possibly reach the emissions target now that there will be no Preem raff, although the report shows that the reductions are too slow. The fact that Preem withdrew his application to expand the refinery in Lysekil has probably not escaped anyone, so we do not really need to talk about that today. But it is difficult not to because it puts the finger on something important, namely how difficult it can be to keep the most reasonable of contracts.
Exponential intuition
We listened to a fantastic presentation by Rebecka Carlsson this week. Thank you, Mid-Swedish Chamber of Commerce for a good event. She talked about our lack of exponential intuition – we simply can’t understand exponentiality. “If I take 30 linear steps now, I’ll cross this room. If I, however, take 30 exponential steps, it will take me 26 laps around the world,” she said. No, it’s a bit hard to understand.
But our lack of understanding doesn’t stop there. We can’t understand what the 1.5°C target means either. It is too abstract and must be made concrete, by everyone, not just the government. That is why it is so uplifting that more and more companies, including many Swedish ones, are starting to set science based targets that are concrete and measurable. Only then will the target be understandable and possible to reach.
And what if we can take exponential development steps in the right direction instead of the wrong? Then, we can make the Paris Agreement and also Agenda 2030. That’s exactly what Rebecka Carlsson is talking about and what we bring with us into the week-end.
