COP27, a United Nations Climate Change Conference, is currently ongoing in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.
President Biden attended the conference on Friday, where he argued action to contain climate change is “a duty and responsibility of global leadership.”
However, according to a report from Danish engineering company Danfoss, the world needs to pay more attention to surging demands for energy if it wants to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (35 degrees Fahrenheit), as required by the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
The report, titled ‘The neglected demand side of the green equation,’ salutes the growth of clean renewable energy sources, but argues humanity must also put more focus on containing demand as populations continue to grow across the world.
Speaking to Newsweek Jürgen Fischer, president of climate solutions at Danfoss, said: “In short, energy efficiency and renewable energies need to go hand in hand. We are seeing massive build out of renewable energy. This is indeed necessary and we need even more.
“But if we don’t at the same time pay attention to the demand side of the green equation, and massively increase energy efficiency, the build out of renewables will not be sufficient.
“As U.S. President Biden said in Glasgow at COP26, the eyes of history are watching. COP27 is a make it or break it moment for global action on global climate change. The world is still not on track to keep warming within the 1.5C target.
“Governments have made headlines with mid-century targets but to a large extent are struggling to implement the immediate solutions we have at hand. It’s time to step up, act and implement energy efficiency into law.”
The report says that human-induced global warming has reached approximately 1.2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, and with current policies warming will hit around 2.8°C by the end of the century.
The Danfoss report focuses in particular on energy use for cooling, noting the International Energy Agency expects the number of air conditioning units to increase from less than 20,000 million in 2015, to more than 50,000 million in 2050.
Much of this growth is forecast to take place in developing economies such as China and India, with the report noting global warming itself is likely to increase demand for air conditioning units.
Fischer said: “Individual air-conditioners are not the only solution to provide cooling.
“District based approaches can offer a very attractive alternative that is not getting enough attention although it is more efficient, takes up less space and avoids so-called heat islands in cities, a side-effect that comes from the outdoor units of individual air-conditioners.”
The report says the world could almost halve global energy consumption for cooling simply by choosing efficient options, with the energy performance of air conditioning units varying by up to 70 percent.
Newsweek spoke with climate experts at the University of Bath in the U.K., to see if they share the Danfoss report’s emphasis on controlling fossil fuel demand.
Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh, director of the University’s Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations, said behavioral changes will be needed to protect the natural environment.
She explained: “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and other analysis, makes clear that technological change alone will not be enough to reach net zero; we need wide-ranging behavior change too.
“Recent evidence from the U.K. Climate Change Committee shows that one-third of emissions reductions will rely on decisions by individuals and households—including adopting new technologies like electric vehicles and heat pumps, but also reducing demand in areas like transport and high-carbon foods.
“But people are not only consumers—they are professionals, members of communities, and citizens—so in fact the remainder of emissions reduction will involve behavior change in a wider sense, by business leaders and employees for example.”
Lucy O’Shea, a senior lecturer in economics who specializes in environmental policies, agreed measures to contain demand were “fundamental” to the fight against climate change.
She said: “In terms of controlling demand and cleaner supply we should (i) subsidise insulation measures by households and (ii) subsidise installation of solar panels (iii) introduce building regulations to promote the use of materials that don’t involve high CO2 emissions in their production (iv) encourage retrofitting of existing buildings rather than newbuild (v) encourage public transport through lower prices and higher convenience (vi) make cities/towns more cycle friendly.”
In Europe climate activists have targeted works of art in protests, such as two Just Stop Oil campaigners who threw tomato soup over a Vincent van Gogh’s painting at London’s National Gallery, then glued themselves to the frame.
Earlier this week podcaster Joe Rogan jokingly suggested the activists should be sent to “work in a coal mine…for a year.”
There are growing fears about damage caused by rapidly increasing permafrost thawing on the Himalayan Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, an area about five times the size of France.
Update 11/16/22, 11:25 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include comments from experts.
