My Green Car
25 plus years of United Nation Climate Change Conferences has sadly not given sustainable ways forward to reduce CO2 Emission to save humans from potentially far reaching turmoil. Too many conflicting interests still prohibit a practical, affordable and overall acceptable way forward and dejectedly the talks have now shifted from an attitude of climate change Mitigation to climate change Adaptation, achievable only for the wealthy population. COP initiative has however created a worldwide awareness of the problem humans faces, and we notice with excitement the increasing desire of especially the younger generation for deep reaching actions to preserve in a responsible manner our living habitats also for future generations. Moreover, a deep desire emerges to be actively part of the recovery process and feel appreciated and admired for our correcting actions. We want to give these billions of humans that sense of belonging by allowing them to contribute to a sustainable and healthier human future, this through a practical, comfortable, and appreciated way including the following:
Planting trees through established and certified foundations and supporting engineer projects that absorb the CO2 from the atmosphere, this may include protecting marine areas as well.
Application/monitoring system to record customer good will payment and an award scheme for best CO2 projects around the world. The customers will basically pick where the money should go.
In instant this proposal will allow the customers to plant yearly thousand of trees and extract million metric tons of CO2 (from direct air capture technology), thereby mitigating the annual footprint created by private transportation and ultimately contributing to the greatest ambition of achieving Net-Zero by 2050 which will be only achievable in combination with other solutions such as renewables, electrification, and decarbonization.
The latest short-term goal in US for 2030 by Biden’s Administration is cutting greenhouse gas emission to 50% from 2005 levels. We have a powerful role to play here, not only the industry but the customers as well. Our Grandchildren should breath and enjoy the same blue planet that we did.
This practical approach would help to tackle the climate change challenges while the world moves on the bridge leaving the current carbon-based energy supply for a sustainable and clean, renewable energy driven society. The initiative is an effective mitigation while petroleum remains driving our mobility to bridge our avenue to a function able, sustainable clean energy system.
There is not yet a global taxation on CO2, which can facilitate the global shift. As result, we need to maximize what is under our control to speed up the process, and I have faith that the industry and our people can play a gigantic role for speeding up the momentum.I believe all the CO2 initiatives fail because there is nothing in for me in the short run, we are damn happy to live on credits that our great grandchildren will have to pay…! We need to change our way of thinking
The main objective of this proposal is leveraging current infrastructure to impact drastically CO2 projects around the world, and this can be done in collaboration with our customer. s. A key, and early part, of the energy transition involves raising awareness for our customers, increasing social responsibility and raising out profile in creating a more sustainable, energy-efficient planet. Ultimately this document will enhance not only our company reputation but its value.
The world’s drivers and the oil-industry have yet to establish a clear path to the best solution. Renewable and cleaner energies will continue to grow thanks to the arrival of new technologies, but the infrastructure of today’s world will not allow for a sudden change because our cars, transportation, manufacturing and derived products depend substantially on fossil fuels. The most pessimistic models still estimate that oil will continue to contribute at least up to 30% of the total transportation energy consumption by 2050. To achieve the US 2030 climate goals, more than half of the new cars and S.U.V.s sold at dealerships would need to be powered by electricity, not gasoline. Nearly all coal-fired power plants would need to be shut down. Forests would need to expand. The number of wind turbines and solar panels dotting the nation’s landscape must quadruple. CCS and DAC will also play a key role as well as H2 for fueling trucks and cars. In Theory this is achievable but requires a vast array of new federal policies. The oil industry (big majors) can play a leading role in couple of areas; (1) how to improve/reduce/offset CO2 in Gasoline cars and (2) how to invest and support World-Class CO2 projects by leveraging retailers and current petrol network.
Considering the current situation, how can we increase our impact with short-term solutions? The oil industry has made some progress regarding CO2 projects (Carbon Capture and Storage) and the funnel is rich in term of ideas, but the road is still cumbersome, and the process is slow. If we want to achieve net-zero CO2 by 2050, we need deep actions over the next 20 years, beginning immediately. We cannot continue to rely on government regulations to create taxes or legislation (will come but at different pace) for solving this global and imminent problem, there is too much bureaucracy and conflict of interests for the most relevant parties that constantly disperses the momentum.
Therefore, we should encourage and let our consumers set the tone, by giving the option to pay extra money to “offset” the CO2 that they themselves have generated.
Our society is evolving, an analogous example is what we observe in grocery shops (markets), where informed customers are willing to pay a significant uplift on the price of the products because these are organic or environmentally friendly. The same principle could apply to consumer-driven choices in the supply of fuel to automobiles. The consciousness is out there on the streets, but we have not yet given our customers the opportunity to express themselves and once the movement has been built, our policymakers will have an easier path for CO2 tax, regulation and implementation.
There are other alternatives out there than are not necessarily better or greener than gasoline car, as example electric cars have a great potential but it comes with a great challenge as replacing the current fleet (more than 200 million cars in US only) by EV doesn’t equal to net-zero, there is a big footprint associated on manufacturing them, in addition to the great environmental damage caused by mining minerals necessary for the creation of lithium batteries (blowing up a mountain isn’t green). This is clearly one of the advantages of Oil (liquid) against raw material such lithium, cobalt or nickel. Mining is one of the dirtiest business out there and this goes against “Clean Energy”
“Our new clean-energy demands could be creating greater harm, even though its intention is to do good,” said Aimee Boulanger, executive director for the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, a group that vets mines for companies like BMW and Ford Motor. “We can’t allow that to happen.”
Funny enough, moving to net zero “inevitably means more mining” as the current world supply of various metals and minerals cannot support a global economy producing net zero carbon emissions. There is a BBC reports which highlights that UK for instance, to switch to electric cars by 2030 they will need twice the current annual world production of cobalt, an entire year’s world production of neodymium (to make electric motor magnets) and three-quarters of the world production of lithium (battery electrolyte).
There is still much to be said and we should leverage momentum to open the floor and participate on the largest debate ever made about climate change, we deserve the best transition, we should aim for the most practical and sustainable solution with proper risk analysis on environmental impact .
Do you think there is appetite for customers to be part of the solution? are we rushing to alternative solutions which has not yet been fully thought?