Climate Week: Post 2

Thanks to another article from Grist (http://grist.org/climate-energy/5-important-developments-from-the-paris-climate-summit/), I found two really important acts of progress that have occurred in the COP 21 thus far. The first highlight was viewed as the number two biggest development by author Tim McDonnel, and it is the plan to increase clean energy in Africa. The second act, viewed as number one by my source is the increased divestment pledge.

                According to the article, nearly two-thirds of the continent is without access to electricity. Yesterday, the African Development Bank agreed to invest $12 billion in clean energy projects in order not only expand access, but do so in an environmentally friendly way. In connection to our Climate Studies class, this is HUGE. Now, yes it would be nice to see more developed countries pitching in to the cause, but it’s actually starting to happen. Underdeveloped nations are working towards making the jump from little/no energy use to clean energy, skipping the fossil fuel stage used by the United States and all other developed countries to gain their status. This $12 billion is one of the first steps in developing countries while simultaneously doing it in an eco-friendly way.

                Now, separately, a group of highly recognized individuals and institutions have made plans to divest even more. The assets owned by the group equals about $3.4 trillion, which is nearly a trillion dollars up from the $2.6 trillion that pledged in September. Although it is unclear exactly how much of those assets will actually be divested, even a fraction of that $3.4 is a large sum of money and could have a large influence on the fossil fuel industry. It will be interesting to see how large of a hit the industry takes and if the exact numbers of how much will be divested will be released. Even so, it is quite pleasing to see decently large steps towards a greener future being taken here in the first few days of the conference.