Luis Egocheaga Young

Government, Civil society, & Enterprise

luis.egocheaga@gmail.com | +51943970026

The greatest and urgent

challenge for COP28 -and all
humanity- that almost no one
talks about...
Minus, of course, the United States, China, and the rest of the
industrialized bloc.
A few days ago the NYT published an interesting article about the agreement between the
United States and China to (i) increase clean energy, (ii) displace fossil fuels -and coal-, and
(iii) reduce emissions that are warming the world. planet; This agreement comes at a
crucial time for the United States, the largest climate polluter in history, and China,
currently the largest polluter, together generating almost 40% of the world's GHGs, no less.
The announced climate agreement is unusual between both leaders, openly disagreeing on
geopolitics and trade; however, they agreed to “continue efforts to triple global renewable
energy capacity by 2030,” with the intention of “accelerating the substitution of coal, oil,
and gas generation for electric power,” and anticipate that they will achieve a “reduction
absolutely significant GHG emissions from the energy sector” in this decade, despite the
fact that the agreement lacks implementation mechanisms, although it does offer progress
in its next set of national climate commitments, which expire in 2024, in which they would
establish reduction for GHG emissions, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide,
and other gases.
The issue of methane is particularly notable on the part of China, a measure that they has
resisted for a long time, and although it agreed in principle to reduce methane, it has not
stated what specific objectives it will establish. "Methane has been notably absent from
China's previous commitment under the Paris Agreement," David Waskow, international
climate director at the World Resources Institute (WRI), said in a statement. "This
announcement is an important step because China is the largest emitter of methane in the
world, and it is essential to take serious measures to curb global warming in the short
term." And while the agreement marks the resumption of collaborative work between the
world's two largest polluters, it establishes ambitious new goals, and provides momentum
for the COP28, will not be enough to silence critics who claim that the world continues to
act too slowly to address urgent changes facing climate change.
This skepticism -and here I begin my own perception of the context- is supported by the

luis.egocheaga@gmail.com | Skype ID: luis.egocheaga | https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-egocheaga-young/

 Luis Egocheaga Young
Government, Civil society, & Enterprise
luis.egocheaga@gmail.com | +51943970026

fact that this event will be held in Dubai, which (i) belongs to the group of oil-producers
countries that in 2021 agreed to increase their oil production to reduce prices, discouraging
investments in renewable energies, (ii) that world oil consumption will set a new maximum
in 2023, with demand expected to grow to 101.6 million barrels per day, more than
expected until now, which will complicate the balance sheet energy transition and
decarbonization route, and (iii) Dubai is the third country on the planet -as part of the UAE-
with the highest consumption rate of the natural resources available for the year, a rate
known as the Earth's biocapacity (https ://www.overshootday.org/newsroom/country-
overshoot-days/).
As I have mentioned in previous articles, the figure indicates what day of the year 2023 we
have already exhausted -or would exhaust, in the best cases- the biocapacity of the planet,
if the current 8 billion humans had the level of consumption or lifestyle of a specific
country of the figure; for example, if we all had the lifestyle -resource consumption rate- of
the average Qatari, on February 10 of this year we would have already exhausted the
natural resources available for the entire year 2023; on March 13 if we were natives of
Canada, the UAE, or Americans, on June 2 if we all were Chinese, or on May 15 if we were
Bahamians, Chileans -the first Latin American countries among the largest consumers- or
Italians.
Reduce these rates of unsustainable investment, production, and consumption, excessive,
irresponsible lifestyles, or whatever we call this antithesis of sustainable development -
meeting the needs of present generations without compromising the possibilities of future
generations to meet their own needs- seems to be taboo, a proscribed topic, a kind of
sacrilege, or blasphemy for most parts of the international community that, starting next
November 30, will debate an agenda that shines only one side of the coin -energy
transition and decarbonization- only changing the energy source -from oil and similar, to
sunlight and similar- and leaves the other side in limbo and a mess: the changes -meaning
resignations- that we have to make, yes or yes, to the current lifestyles, which are pawning,
mortgaging, disinheriting, or however you want to understand it, the future of our children
and grandchildren.
To understand what it’s about -in the context of the same figure- the global level of
consumption that will take the longest to exhaust all of the Earth's biocapacity -although in
the end, it may not be enough for us to reach the 2024 New Year Day- is that of Jamaica: on
December 21 of this year, we would begin to use the 2024 resource stocks. In 2022
Jamaica’s GDP per capita -an imperfect measure of the economic well-being of the average
resident of a country, which does not consider factors such as distribution of wealth,
quality of life, or environmental impacts- was US $6,047.20; consequently, only lower levels
of resource consumption -lower rates of GDP per capita- would allow humanity to
celebrate the New Year 2024 well, which leads us to take a look at how the inhabitants of
the 106 countries with GDP less than Jamaica’s, and accept that we can live decently with
only what is necessary and indispensable... the rest is too much.
I do understand that the call to this struggle, personal and collective, is against centuries-

luis.egocheaga@gmail.com | Skype ID: luis.egocheaga | https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-egocheaga-young/

 Luis Egocheaga Young
Government, Civil society, & Enterprise
luis.egocheaga@gmail.com | +51943970026

long roots, which began to take hold when we change from artisanal to industrial
production, around the year 1750, and even before; we have all been trained for
generations in that “normality” of surpassing what our ancestors achieved, only that those
“achievements” were measured almost exclusively with a single dimension of wealth:
monetary, without even thinking that there is also social wealth -trust, mutual respect,
commitment-, and environmental -the inalienable right to enjoy a healthy environment,
and the duty, also inalienable, to ensure a healthy environment-, to such an extent that we
have handed our destiny into the hands of those who concentrate and control monetary
wealth, without being fully aware that each payment we made for goods and services that
we do not need, much less are indispensable, increases this concentration and control.
But there is a great, powerful force that we are not yet fully aware of, that exists and has
existed within us for as long as we have been conscious -since we were 3 years old or less-
and that can change hands in the pan of consumerism: the little-known, intentionally
relegated, and ignored fifth “R”… but that’s an another-day topic.

luis.egocheaga@gmail.com | Skype ID: luis.egocheaga | https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-egocheaga-young/

 Luis Egocheaga Young
Government, Civil society, & Enterprise
luis.egocheaga@gmail.com | +51943970026

The greatest and urgent challenge for COP28 - and all our
humanity - that almost no one talks about... less, of course, the
United States, China, and the rest of the industrialized countries.

A few days ago, the NYT published an interesting article on the

agreement between the United States and China before COP28,
which comes at a crucial moment for the United States -the largest
climate polluter in history-, and China -currently the largest
polluter-, which together generate almost 40% of the world's
GHGs, nothing less.

The announced agreement, rare between powers openly

disagreeing on geopolitics and trade, refers to "continuing efforts
to triple the global renewable energy capacity by 2030", with the
intention of "accelerating the replacement of generation -based on
electricity- of coal, oil and gas”, and anticipate that they will achieve
an “absolutely significant reduction in GHG emissions from the
energy sector” in this decade, and offers that in their next set of
national climate commitments, they would establish reduction
targets for all emissions of GHGs, including carbon dioxide,
methane, nitrous oxide, and other planet-warming gases.

While the agreement provides support ahead of COP28, it will not

be enough to silence critics who claim that the world's still moving
too slowly to address urgent changes facing climate change, for
example -and here I begin my perception of the context- drastically
reducing the consumption rate of natural resources available for
the year, a rate known as the Earth's biocapacity
(https://lnkd.in/eKEKKygc).

luis.egocheaga@gmail.com | Skype ID: luis.egocheaga | https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-egocheaga-young/

 Luis Egocheaga Young
Government, Civil society, & Enterprise
luis.egocheaga@gmail.com | +51943970026

The figure indicates on what day of the year 2023 we will exhaust -
or would exhaust, in the best cases - the biocapacity of the planet,
if the current 8 billion humans had the level of consumption or
lifestyle of a specific country; as an example, if we all had the
lifestyle of the average Qatari, on February 10 of this year we
would have already exhausted the natural resources available for
the entire year 2023; March 13 if we were natives of Canada, the
UAE, or Americans; June 2 if we were all Chinese; or on May 15 if
we're Bahamians, Chileans - the first Latin American countries
among the largest consumers - or Italians; from another
perspective, the antithesis of sustainable development -meeting
the needs of present generations without compromising the
possibilities of future generations to meet their own needs.

The good news is that there is still an open door for this situation,
which can make the handle of the frying pan of consumerism
change hands: the little-known, intentionally relegated, and
ignored fifth "R"… but that is a topic for another day.

Access the full article at

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bQFL6waRs-
f0B4YJugEEkcNsv265Kzml/view?usp=sharing

luis.egocheaga@gmail.com | Skype ID: luis.egocheaga | https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-egocheaga-young/