The IPCC report says that we have only 7 years left (until 2028) to work on changing the course that the climate is currently taking, if we are to spare humanity devastating catastrophes.

the current situation

The annual statistical report issued this year by British Petroleum included many data on energy for the year 2020;

The report indicated that fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) still represent 83.1% of the energy consumed globally.

The share of oil - the largest - reached 31.2%, followed by coal with a share of 27.2%, then natural gas with a share of 24.7%, and renewable energy with a share of 5.7%, exceeding the share of nuclear energy, which amounted to only 4.3%.

The share of hydropower was 6.9%.

The report indicated that the world adds about 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere every year, most of which are from fossil fuels;

Which exacerbates global warming, and thus increases global temperatures.

60% of greenhouse gases are emitted from 10 countries, led by China, then the United States, India and Russia (European)

The latest figures published by Climate Watch for the year 2018 showed that 60% of greenhouse gases are emitted from 10 countries, led by China, then the United States, India and Russia.

But if we use the pollution index per head of population, we find that the United States ranks 18th, Russia ranks 28th, China ranks 54th, and India ranks 149th, while the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council come in advanced ranks;

Qatar ranks third, Bahrain fourth, Emirates fifth, Kuwait sixth, Saudi Arabia 14, and Oman 21.

Although the Gulf Cooperation Council countries topped the world in the per capita greenhouse gas emissions index, their ranking in the Transition to Clean Energy Index issued by the World Economic Forum this year came relatively late, as the State of Qatar ranked first in the Arab world (53 globally out of 115 countries). covered by the report), followed at the Arab level by the UAE (64 globally), Morocco (66 globally), Jordan (72 globally), Oman (74 globally), Algeria (79 globally), then Saudi Arabia (81 globally), Then Tunisia (88 globally), then Kuwait (102 globally), then Bahrain (108 globally), then Lebanon (112 globally).

As for the global level in the transition to clean energy index, Sweden came first for the fourth year in a row, followed by Norway and Denmark.

The World Economic Forum report stated that global investment in the transition to clean energy exceeded $500 billion in 2020, despite the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is necessary to work to keep global warming at 1.5°C at most by zeroing (European) emissions

How can the catastrophic effects of climate change be avoided?

In 1988, the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to provide comprehensive estimates of the environmental, social and economic impacts of climate change.

In October 2018, the authority issued a report recommending working to keep global temperature increase at 1.5 degrees Celsius at most by zeroing carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, by increasing the use of clean energy and balancing the remaining emissions by removing carbon dioxide from the air.

sustainable energy

There are 6 types of renewable energy (solar, hydro, wind, bio, geothermal, tidal).

The sun is the largest source of renewable energy. The earth receives from the sun every 5 days an energy equivalent to all the earth's resources and its proven reserves of oil, coal and natural gas.

If humanity could use just one part of the 6,000 parts of the solar energy flowing on Earth, we would be able to meet 100% of our energy needs.

Work is accelerating today to raise the efficiency of solar panels and the methods of using them, as the use of double-sided solar panels has begun.

One of the scientific breakthroughs in the field of solar panels is to enable a high-energy photon to release two electrons from the silicon solar cell instead of one electron, as is currently the case, and this technology is expected to be commercially available within a few years.

It is also expected that solar panels will become an integral part of the infrastructure of countries of the world. In addition to giant power plants, we will witness the use of solar panels in windows, rooftops, skyscrapers, schools, hospitals, car parks, land, air and sea transport fleets, and farms. etc.

Several innovative technologies will support this transformation, including batteries that use iron, salt and water to store solar and wind energy at a relatively low cost and for a long time.

Solar panels are expected to become an integral part of the world's infrastructure (Reuters)

The ongoing slow transition towards clean energy is not enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere by 2050, because fossil fuel use will continue until then, even though its share of total energy use will decline.

In this context, the technology of absorbing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere provides a suitable solution, by establishing special stations for this (many of these stations are currently deployed in several developed countries, but their effectiveness is still low).

The problem with this technology is that its current cost is still high, as the cost of absorbing one ton of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere is about $400, which means that eliminating 51 billion tons costs $20.4 trillion annually, a cost that humanity cannot afford.

It is expected that this cost will gradually decrease so that the contribution of this technology to the removal of greenhouse gases increases with time.

Bill Gates is optimistic about effective solutions to climate change. "My primary optimism about climate change comes from my belief in innovation. The conditions have never been clearer to support energy-related breakthroughs. It is our ability to innovate that makes me optimistic."

The countries of the Council became aware of the importance of renewable energy and established a number of projects (Getty Images)

Renewable energy in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council

The GCC countries realized the importance of renewable energy, especially solar energy, due to the availability of the appropriate conditions for it in the region, so they started constructing several stations, including:

Al Dhafra Solar Power Plant, Noor Abu Dhabi Plant, and other plants in the UAE.

Al-Kharsaah solar power plant in Qatar.

Qabas solar power plant in Oman.

- Sakaka solar power plant, Dumat Al-Jandal wind power plant, and other projects in Saudi Arabia.

These promising projects have not yet shown their effects in international reports related to the use of renewable energy, including the report that includes an indicator of the contribution of solar energy to the total energy consumed in various countries of the world.

There are hopes that policies will be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the (European) Gulf.

We hope that the results of these projects will appear in future reports, and that they will be supported by policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions on the one hand, and establishing carbon dioxide absorption stations on the other.

It is also preferable to benefit from the experience of Houston, Texas, to establish climate technology incubators, with the aim of contributing to the region's transition to clean energy.

Finally, in her 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg's speech before the US Congress on September 17, 2019 about the need to work hard to control climate change, she said: "You must unite behind the flag. You must take action. You must Do the impossible, because giving up is never an option."