[In-It] Major Events in 2020 Climate Change, Prospects for 2021

For most people, 2020 will be remembered as the year of Corona.

Coronavirus-related news seems to be making headlines every day even when this article is posted on in-it.

Was there really only coronavirus the biggest event in 2020?

Not like that.

The unprecedented 57 days of rainy season, floods that sent livestock on the roof, and massive wildfires and heatwaves that occurred around the world following last year, have been constantly occurring.

All are phenomena resulting from climate change.

Of course, great progress has been made.

China (September 22, 2020), Japan (October 26, 2020), and Korea (October 28, 2020) declared to achieve carbon neutrality and concluded with the election of Candidate Joe Biden. That is the result of the US presidential election.

These changes suggest that the response to climate change, which has been sluggish over the past few years, will be promoted very quickly in the future.

In the coming year of 2021, in the process of achieving carbon neutrality to prevent climate change, our lives, economy, and international order will change dramatically.

Here are some important events of this year that predict this change.

During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, most experts predicted the election of Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Hillary was the person who would continue President Obama's policy stance, including responding to climate change.

But the result was the election of Republican Donald Trump, who argues that climate change is a scam created by the Chinese.

It was a shocking result.

The international community's response to climate change depends greatly on whether the United States demonstrates its leadership or not.

After taking office as the 45th President of the United States in January 2017, Trump thoroughly ignored the issue of climate change, as he professed, and as if deliberately dismantled all regulations related to climate change and environment.

Even in the 46th US presidential election, many climate change experts were nervous, saying that if President Trump is re-elected, the global response to climate change will be completely wiped out.

The election ended with the victory of Democratic Candidate Joe Biden, who promised a strong climate change response.

Currently, Biden is taking steps in line with his strong commitment to respond to climate change, such as appointing former Secretary of State John Kerry as envoy for climate change.

At least for the next four years, we will see the United States working together with Europe and China to reduce greenhouse gases.

The successive declarations of carbon neutrality between China, Japan and Korea, announced just before the US presidential election, are interpreted as preparations for such changes.

Just a year ago from now, the first article I wrote while starting the series with Init's fixed writing was about Tesla's cyber electric truck.

At the time, Tesla wasn't the company that attracted attention as it is now, and it was suspected that it would sooner or later.

In particular, after the announcement of the cyber truck, the stock price temporarily fell sharply along with criticism that the design was too strange.

But now, a year later, the Tesla Model 3 sedan has turned into a situation where it can't be sold.

No one doubts that electric vehicles will become the trend in the future.

Tesla is about to complete the second plant in Shanghai.

Additional factories are being built in Berlin, Germany, the heart of the European automobile industry, and Texas, the heart of the US oil industry.

In fact, in addition to the automobile industry, Tesla is also quite active in the installation of solar roofs and batteries for household and industrial electricity storage.

It is also preparing to produce its own battery applying various innovations.

Electric vehicles, batteries and solar power are key industries for realizing a zero-carbon economy.

Tesla's business value, based on its current market capitalization, is 2.5 times that of Toyota and more than 10 times that of Hyundai Motors, which began business in 2003, knowing this importance.

Of course, there is still criticism that Tesla is being evaluated too high for its performance, but it is quite true that it is receiving much higher evaluation compared to a year ago.

It is an important example showing how the direction of industry is changing in line with climate change.

climate change has always been an important issue in the mainstream of society for decades, it has been left behind in actual priorities.

The related report was also published once at the end of the year when the UN climate change negotiations were in progress.

However, climate change is now a'mainstream' issue that is dealt with throughout the year.

One of the institutions dealing with climate change as a'mainstream' is McKinsey, which has a high reputation in the field of corporate consulting.

Since the end of last year, McKinsey has literally been pouring out various reports on climate change.

It published a report on the impact of climate change on the financial industry, coastal real estate and infrastructure, followed by a report on the impact of heat waves, precipitation, and drought in East Asia.

Also, a few days ago, he posted a new report on its website entitled'How Europe Achieves Zero Greenhouse Gases to Zero Costs'.

On the cover of this 204 page report, there is a young child holding a leaf and smiling innocently.

When I saw the cover, something was sore.

Climate change is a problem with children's survival as indicated on the cover, and now I have a feeling of sympathy that consulting companies are starting to look at the problem from this angle.

One of the core contents of this McKinsey Report is '11 million minus 6 million is 5 million'.

11 million is the number of jobs created when Europe quickly transitions to a zero carbon economy, and 6 million is the number of jobs that will disappear.

In the end, it is an analysis that an additional 5 million jobs are created when the economy transitions to a zero carbon economy.

To stop climate change, there is no choice but to create new jobs.

That the mainstream has begun to admit this can be interpreted as a willingness to go in the direction of a solution.

This change, which says that McKinsey has begun dealing with climate change year-round, and that the cost of achieving zero greenhouse gases, as covered in this report, can be zero, reveals that major economic actors are beginning to prioritize climate change. Show.

problem of climate change is a matter of survival.

So, when I started writing in-it, I added the subtitle'Conditions of Survival'.

You can win a war only with all your strength.

So, while writing, I criticized the Ministry of Environment's campaign to practice life in which GHGs are ``sick'' even if many people practice it every day, and the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) recommendation to introduce a carbon tax is politely. Delivered.

We have been dealing with climate change as a matter of'living life' for too long, and now we need to get out of this perception.

Fortunately, the government is also trying to survive by cutting off high-carbon industries such as coal-fired power plants, gasoline, and diesel cars, which are now on the decline, and fostering low-carbon industries such as solar, wind power, and electric vehicles.

The war on greenhouse gases, which has just begun to rise, needs a big change.

And in this process, conflict is bound to arise.

One thing not to forget is that goodbye to the high-carbon industry is to prevent catastrophe and promote the survival of all of us.

This means that countries or companies that do not participate in the great transformation of creating a low-carbon economy will be on the side that threatens the survival of all of us.

It may be unbelievable that these huge changes are needed and are already beginning.

This is because there have been so many vague optimisms that are far from reality and the forces that have been conspiracy to conceal the seriousness of climate change.

However, in the future, if you run a business and manage the economy based on their words, you will face great difficulties.

This is because the global temperature has already reached the stage where it can all collapse if it fails to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions.

'It is on our side to reduce greenhouse gas.'

Europe, the United States, and China now judge that way.

We also desperately need an effort to become'on our side'.

#In-It #In-It #Kim Ji-Seok #Conditions of Survival # Meet'In

[In-It] "Korea is a climate villain" How did this happen?