While tensions are high at COP26 in these final days of the conference, delegates are fiercely negotiating the accounting rules for international carbon markets, finances for loss and damages, and the feasibility of fossil fuel phase out plans. The anticipation for the final summaries of these deals is overwhelming, and so while we wait for updates let’s talk about what happened on Gender, Science, and Innovation Day in week 2 of COP26!
China, India, the UK, US and EU are among a cohort of 23 governments that announced new plans to catalyze a “cleantech” investment, under the “Mission Innovation” platform. The nations plan to add to existing plans for decarbonizing power systems and shipping, work-streams on low-carbon cities, decarbonizing heavy industrial sectors, scaling up renewable fuels, decarbonizing the chemicals sector and producing renewable materials.
47 countries including Malawi, Spain, Morocco, and the U.S. (who represent more than one-third of the world’s healthcare emissions) have committed to transforming healthcare systems so that they are climate-resilient and low-carbon.
The Industrial Deep Decarbonization Initiative (IDDI) launched on November 9th. The UK, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India, Germany and Canada pledged to disclose the embodied carbon in major public construction projects by 2025. This will provide a baseline for developing a 2030 reduction target for embodied carbon, and encourages a net-zero target by 2050.
28 global companies spanning the mining, manufacturing and financial sectors have pledged to grow both the demand and supply of green hydrogen. Hydrogen produces zero emissions at the point of use, but the carbon footprint of supply chains varies vastly based on how it is produced, and more than 90% of the world’s production is currently fossil-fueled. This is an exciting pledge that sees us move past electric transportation targets to an even cleaner alternative; hydrogen. While efforts are being made to increase infrastructure for electric vehicles and technologies, Hydrogen is arguably a more sustainable technology that can limit emissions greater than electric. Hydrogen is produced, compressed and stored, and then converted to electricity for the main electricity grid as required.
Let’s compare!
The Honda Clarity, a best-selling hydrogen car can completely refuel the tank in less than 5 minutes, as it is a similar procedure for filling a petrol car. In comparison, the 2019 Tesla Model 3 takes up to 33 hours charging from home and at least 20 minutes at a Tesla supercharger station. The hydrogen-powered 2020 Honda Clarity has a range of 366 miles on a full tank compared to the electric Tesla Model 3, which has a range of 322 miles for the long-range edition.
Another important consideration especially with newer technology is the ease of refueling. Even if you are unable to charge your car at home, an electric vehicle is relatively easy to charge with over 100,000 public charging points available in the U.S., compared to refueling a hydrogen vehicle where there are only 43 public access hydrogen refueling points in the US. Clearly, work needs to be done to make hydrogen fueled cars more accessible and realistic in the U.S. In addition to the refueling issues, one of the downsides to hydrogen-powered transportation is its efficiency. The hydrogen car is only 27% energy efficient, compared to the electric vehicle which after all major energy losses is 65% efficient, 2.4x more efficient than the hydrogen car. This means producing and using hydrogen has high losses in energy, which further result in losses of money for companies.
Seeing that there is still a lot of innovation needed to make hydrogen cars efficient and accessible enough for mass public use, it is encouraging to see it discussed at COP26 in such detail for the first time.
Discussions also focused on gender equality and inclusion. Hosted by the UK pavilion, speakers emphasized that we make better decisions when we decide together and therefore we need all voices at the table. Because we are better together, we must be equal. The voices of women need to be heard, trusted and respected. Tracking progress on key gender inclusion indicators was discussed in depth. GNDR was able to create dialogue and space for how we can change the framework from monitoring and evaluation of power imbalances. Inclusion of indigenous communities was also highlighted, with representatives of indigenous communities from Canada, Alaska and Sweden asking for respect and acceptance of their local knowledge.
Were there topics discussed on Gender, Science and Innovation Day that you enjoyed? Were there topics you felt like needed to be discussed in more detail? Was anything missing from this day of discussion? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
