On radio, I heard that India is refusing to update its goals for limiting carbon emissions. It's delegation responds by saying that India has done a lot in transitioning to solar and other alternative sources of energy. Still, India does burn lots of coal. I see the big problem as being population. India is now the most populated country in the world, surpassing even China. As India and other countries seek to bring people out of poverty, they use many sources of energy.
From what I hear the top 3 sources of carbon emissions in the world today, are China, USA and India with India being in third place. Each of these three nations have been attempting to transition to cleaner energy. China has now set some goals, but just setting goals isn't necessarily that effective. Just about every nation has broken the goals they have set at past climate summits.
Under Donald Trump, the official policy of the US government is now to tear up the goals, to consider climate change to be a hoax and to refuse to send a high level delegation to the climate talks in Belem Brasil. At the same time, various states and local centers of power, in the US, have sent people to the climate convention; for instance Governor Newsom arriving from California.
Whether setting goals and signing agreements makes a difference, or not, is a good question. Few countries have been able to meet their own commitments. It's possible that these conferences are just an exercise in futility and a waste of jet fuel for bringing delegates together. Still, they may serve a purpose as the leaders discuss climate change.
Population is not talked about enough. India is now on top of the world chart in size of its population. The size of our world's population is a big factor as so much of the world has been rising out of poverty, learning to drive cars and so forth, since my college days in the 1970s.
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