{"id":4044,"date":"2018-12-20T08:36:09","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T12:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/?p=4044"},"modified":"2023-11-09T13:23:31","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T13:23:31","slug":"what-i-learned-in-poland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/our-take\/what-i-learned-in-poland\/","title":{"rendered":"What I Learned in Poland"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I was honored to join a U.S.-led event at the recent global climate summit in Poland (COP24) highlighting the need for clean and reliable power, particularly the serious advancements carbon capture, advanced nuclear and other technologies can make toward responsible decarbonization.<\/p>\n

It was discouraging \u2013 albeit not surprising \u2013 to see a number of protesters take much of the attention away from what we consider a practical conversation about using cutting-edge innovation to chart a path forward that marries energy growth and security with a cleaner power supply.<\/p>\n

While I understood and share their urgency to address climate change, the emphasis from these protesters on immediately discontinuing the role of fossil fuels appears to be woefully misguided, not to mention rejected by a developing world that is rapidly industrializing and the consensus of scientists who believe that carbon capture technologies must play a role in a zero-emissions future.<\/p>\n

A new International Energy Agency forecast says global demand for coal will actually grow in the next five years \u2013 thanks to surging use particularly in India and elsewhere in Southeast Asia more than outpacing declines in the U.S. and Europe.<\/p>\n

This reality, IEA makes clear, is carbon capture technologies have to be better utilized if net global emission reductions are going to be achieved. It is also an inconvenient truth to those seemingly solely focused on the fledgling \u201ckeep it in the ground\u201d effort. Importantly, carbon capture can also be used to dramatically reduce the emissions from hard to electrify sectors, such as industry and transportation. This past year, for example, California officially established rules for carbon capture projects to count toward its emission reduction targets.<\/p>\n

I was doubly confounded that a number of these folks chose to associate themselves with anti-nuclear campaigners who seemed utterly out of place at a climate change convention given that nuclear is the largest source of zero-emissions power around the world.<\/p>\n