Looking at a 6 degree world – optimist or pessimist?

Having read too many books on climate scenarios I will probably not read Mark Lynas new book “Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet”, but he is a sympathetic person from what I can judge from the few interactions we’ve had. The recent interview in Wired is an example of how he manages to raise the most fundamental issues in a way that hopefully people can digest. It is about our view on humanity and maybe also how you live your own life.

The quote below is from the article in Wired:

“WN: You wrote in the introduction that you were surprised to discover that some people find this subject matter incredibly depressing. You don't get depressed by this?

Lynas: Everything from 2, 3 degrees upwards is a "what if" scenario. When people come to me and say that they stopped reading at 4 or 5 degrees because it was getting too depressing, I say, "But you shouldn't be depressed, because that may never happen. There's still something you can do about it!"

Whether you get depressed depends on how likely you think this is to happen. It comes down to your view of humankind. If you think humans are innately selfish, that they don't care about the future and just care about driving flashy cars, then you're going to get depressed. If your view of humanity is that we're an intelligent species, that we can come together on an international basis and find solutions to this problem that include all the world's people, then you'll have more hope. It depends on your personality, and on your politics.”

Microsoft Surface – an end to retailing and design as we know it?

We go to stores as we want to get a better feeling for what we are buying. Companies like IKEA have built their business around this idea. With climate change challenging us to rethink the way we build societies that is dependent on resource inefficient solutions (like bringing out a few people to a store in a vehicle that weighs tonnes and depend on fossil fuel) we must think in new directions.

During our meeting with Microsoft in Paris Bill Gates was also there. Part of his presentation was about the “Surface” (a project that he was obviously enthusiastic about and said that he will continue to work on). I hope to explore the surface further and its potential implications for a more resource efficient society.

PS
I do not think Bill will ever get his snowboard together and someone did not do a good job in preparing the demonstration in Paris, but it was inspiring to see the surface in action. ;)

Hope in Europe for a low carbon ICT development

During the Sustainable Energy Week a session was arranged by GeSI where the role of ICT was discussed. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the consensus that it is time to move the focus from the 1-4% of the CO2 that the ICT sector contributes to global emissions, to the 96-99% that ICT solutions can help to reduce. Construction and transport seem to be the two main areas that people can agree on, combined with the contributions to measure and inform people.

I look forward to see what the commission will come up with and hope that Viviane Reding will present goals, responsible people and resources in a few strategic areas before, or during, the European Business Summit 2008. At least this will be my question to her, now when business have taken the first step it is time for politicians to support this.

Historic event in Davos when the world leaders in IT tackle climate change

It is not often when you feel that you see something really important happen when it actually happens. A few times I have felt this and usually it has been quite dramatic, such as the creation of the Kyoto Protocol in Japan, when the negotiations closed with most people close to collapse after intensive negations or when world trade moved from a technical issue to the public domain in Seattle as the WTO negotiations broke down with demonstrations outside.

Less dramatic, but with potentially more significant implications, was the agreement among world leading ICT companies that they want to “establish itself as a leading contributor that sees reduction of CO2 as a driver for innovation and profit. It would also allow the sector to claim a leadership role as a winner in a low carbon economy.

If this happens this could mark a threshold as we try to move towards a low carbon economy. Spending time with Simon Mulcahy, Randal Krantz, James Tee and other from the WEF team was a pleasure, the discussions with leading thinkers from all walks of life inspiring, and the dinner I moderated gave me hope for the next step.

Below are parts of the text that was discussed in Davos. I hope to do what I can do to turn this from word into action. The paperI brought to Davos, , From coal power plants to smart power plants at the speed of light , is available here, close to 5meg and with pages ranging from A4 to A2...)

UPDATE: The official documents from WEF in Davos are available to download here.

First oil fund in the world to save the climate...

Will Norway's oil fund be the first in the world that reform their investment criteria in order to become a proactive force and support a low carbon development?

This is an article from a Norwegian paper, but why not practice your language skills? If Norway begin using their oil fund and support winners in a low carbon economy we should all learn at least a few words in Norwegian.