Free-market Environmentalism, and More

Published in The Peninsula, Doha, January 14th, 2025 For the second consecutive year, global temperatures have reached a new record high. According to data from Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization, 2024 has surpassed the previous record set in 2023 as the hottest year on record. In 2024, the global average temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees for the first time. 1.5 degrees is considered the threshold beyond which catastrophic and unpredictable climate change will be very hard to avoid. Because going beyond 1.5 degrees some of the climate feedback loops can become out of control, this is the target established by the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. In addition to breaking the yearly record, 2024 also broke another record: most days in 2024 also exceeded 1.5 degrees and were the highest recorded for each day, ever. Of course, breaching 1.5 degrees does not mean that we are now inevitably above 1.5 degrees forever, as natural fluctuations may make future years a bit lower...

(Published in The Peninsula, December 30th, 2024) The 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) recently held in Riyadh, demonstrated that when it comes to global sustainability, “land is everything.” There is a lot of global attention and discussions focused on the issue of climate change. These discussions focus on the need to mitigate the emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause it, as well as the urgent need to adapt to its worsening effects.  Similarly, discussions regarding biodiversity and ecosystems, another major global environmental challenge, tend to emphasize the need to reverse the loss of habitats and ecosystems, with a mounting prominence on shifting the focus from “conserving nature” towards achieving “nature positive” outcomes. Of course, both issues are strongly interrelated. The loss of forests and other carbon-rich ecosystems release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, the principal greenho...

  (Oiriginally published in The Peninsula, Doha, November 19th, 2024) The 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16) took place in Cali, Colombia from 21 October to 1 November. The CBD is one of the three global environmental conventions established during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992, often hailed as the ‘Earth Summit’.  The other two being the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (which is currently taking place in Azerbaijan), and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification which will happen before the end of the year. The purpose of these Conferences of the Parties’(COP) is to bring the participating countries together to discuss and negotiate concrete actions to address the pressing environmental challenges of our times. All three conventions have almost universal participation (196 or more countries each). In the case of the recent CBD COP 16, and despit...

  Published in The Peninsula, Doha, October 10th, 2024. In the last quarter of this year, various United Nations (UN) treaties will host their ‘Conferences of the Parties’ for the three major international environmental agreements: Climate Change in Azerbaijan, Biodiversity in Colombia, and Desertification in Saudi Arabia. Signed in 1992, these three conventions are critically important pillars of the global environmental architecture, yet they are often misunderstood and underappreciated. Imagine a dusty, dimly lit room. At one end, there’s Climate Change, brooding over its latest doomsday report. Next to it sits Biodiversity, quietly lamenting extinct species that will never be seen again. Across the room, in the driest corner, Desertification sighs, knowing that it, too, needs some attention. These three characters – all features of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, share a mutual frustration: they’re all some of the most pressing issues facing the planet, but no one seems to care enou...

Camisea:  ¡Si Se Pudo! September 14, 2024 El mes pasado (Agosto 2024) se cumplieron 20 años desde la entrada en funcionamiento del proyecto Camisea y los resultados han sido extraordinarios. Camisea genera el 40% de la electricidad del Perú, y como el gas es un combustible más barato que otras alternativas para generar electricidad o para su uso directo en la industria y el transporte, los ahorros acumulados en la economía exceden los 110,000 millones de dólares, es decir, nuestra economía es ahora mucho más competitiva al tener energía más barata. Además de estos ahorros, Camisea añade en forma directa 1.3% al PBI del país cada año, una riqueza acumulada de más de 30,000 millones de dólares, sin contar los beneficios secundarios y las cadenas de valor y los puestos de trabajo directos e indirectos que se han generado. El Estado Peruano recibe aproximadamente dos tercios de toda la riqueza generada por Camisea a través de las regalías y del impuesto a la renta. La mayor parte de es...

  Published in The Fast Company, June 18th, 2024 2023 was the  hottest year on record , shattering records dating back to the mid-1850s, and driving a heightened sense of urgency around climate action. 2024 might be even hotter, as evidenced by this week’s  extreme heat wave  across the U.S. In the Middle East, already one of the hottest regions on earth, temperatures have risen twice as fast as the global average. Characterized by arid environments, countries in this region have their own set of challenges and needs, necessitating a distinct framework for advancing sustainability policy and solutions. But they’re not alone. Over one-third of the world’s population lives in countries—such as vast areas of Western Asia, northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent, and South America—with hot and arid environments. To date, global sustainability discussions have largely focused on tropical and temperate countries. They usually assume that the main focus should be on p...