AIR CONDITIONING
COP26 and heat pumps COP 3.5
By Jason Tinsley, applied project manager at Pacair. I
n 2007 my tutor asked our class whether we were optimistic or pessimistic for the future considering the impacts that rising global CO2 emissions has on climate change. We were in our final year of degree in environmental science. Out of a class of 20 it was only myself and two others that were in the optimistic group. At the time I was developing what became the Ecodan air sourced heat pump range and the 2 others were working on similar low carbon technologies. I guess back then the UK hadn’t shown much success
in reducing carbon emissions. A few years earlier we had our first ever confirmed 100°F summers day, electric cars were few and far between, there weren’t many wind turbines and the general public and politicians didn’t know what a heat pump was. Roll on another 15 years or so one of the first trillion dollar valued company is an electric car manufacturer and climate change is now established as climate fact and most countries are now on a similar decarbonisation journeys as the U.K.
The fact is that the UK has actually done a good job
in reducing its carbon emissions by 50% from 1990 levels already though it does look like this rate of reduction may start to slow without renewed efforts and interventions.
For those that had an interest in COP26 held in
November last year you may have missed some of the key points that were raised and discussed over the 2 weeks it was held. The overarching aim of COP26 was to keep global warming to within the 1.5°C limit as set out in previous COPs. During COP26 conference Climate Action Aid
published their report that showed the current carbon reduction commitments from the 197 countries would only limit a temperature rise of 2.4°C and that these carbon reduction pledges would need to ratchet up sooner in order to keep the global temperature rise within the 1.5°C limit. A halt to deforestation by 2030 and a worldwide pledge reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels was a welcome commitment though not joined by China Russia and India. The final summary document text called the “cover decision” of the Glasgow Climate pact was finally agreed by all eventually, with the paragraph that mentioned fossil fuels for the first time… believe it or not fossil fuels had not been mentioned in any previous COP agreement texts!
Whilst this brief summary doesn’t really do justice to the huge amount of work must have gone on behind the scenes of COP26 it does give optimism for the future. The fact is we are heading in the right direction admittedly slowly, but definitely in the right direction. The UK was one of the first to countries to formally commit to CO2 reduction by putting into law The Climate Change Act 2008. This act commits the UK government by law to reducing greenhouse gases by 100% of 1990 levels (net zero) by 2050 and sets out the framework to deliver on these requirements by carbon budgets. The sixth carbon budget set out by the Climate Change Committee was published on the 9th December 2020.
A carbon budget is a cap on the amount of
greenhouse gases emitted in the UK over a five-year period. Budgets must be set at least 12 years in advance to allow policy-makers, businesses and individuals enough time to prepare. The CCC have already advised that the UK is currently unlikely to meet the 4th and 5th carbon budget without further action. The UK aims to establish itself as an international climate leader by further reducing carbon emission targets down to 68% of 1990 levels by 2030 as set out in the Prime Ministers new 10 point plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.
26 February 2022 •
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