NET ZERO

IT IS A RACE AGAINST TIME TO PREVENT OVERHEATING OF PLANET EARTH

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RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK: If we are to beat global warming, we need to act expeditiously. Sometimes, acting is helping to define risk for commercial investors. Other times it is doing rather than thinking. The Cleaner Ocean Foundations is more of a do-tank, than a think-tank. But that does not mean we do not assess and seek to contain practical problems - and think before acting. It just means that we aim to cut metal quicker than most.

One of the problems with modern navies is the refusal to embrace change for a safe bet, so lacking in ambition. In the words of Vice-Admiral Nick Hine, Second Sea Lord: 

“I have despaired at times that collectively, we [Royal Navy] had become self-censoring, risk averse, and lacking in curiosity, confidence and critical thinking skills."

“We have these qualities but have allowed a rose-tinted view of tradition, and a spurious belief that you can avoid risk by sticking to a failing status quo, to avoid driving transformation.”

In Jules Verne's time there was no such thing as balancing the books in terms of air pollution and exploitation of the earth's natural resources. It was literally, full steam ahead with everything. In those days mankind was a pimple on a dinosaur. Today, man dominates land sea and air, changing the world via exploitation.

"Water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable."

Then we (humans) anthropogenically over-exploited earth, using up resources at the rate of 2.4 planets, with the inevitable result that ice caps started melting causing ocean levels to increase, coupled with extinctions on an unprecedented scale. Including the flooding of inhabited islands, a mild form of genocide, that might have been unintentional, save that we knew about global warming over thirty years ago. But it was not important enough at policy level to warrant change.

It was so unimportant that many governments introduced fossil fuel subsidies, so creating plumes of fumes. Paid for with your tax dollars. And you voted for that, even if it may not have been advertised as being part of an administrative agenda.

Satisfying the electorate has always been based on the promise of prosperity; the growth of a nations economy. Measured as the Gross National Product.

This involved promises of more services and lower taxes. Itself based on exploiting fossil fuels, that were cheap enough to fire the industrial boilers and give us mobility, with subsidies. Yes, we are subsiding pollution at the moment that is killing millions with diseases such as lung cancer. Utterly horrible, but true. Politicians found themselves caught between a rock and a hard place.

Promises of prosperity were thought of as necessary to get elected. Indeed, a prerequisite to gaining power was to promise the earth (literally), knowing countries were getting deeper into the red, with borrowings of $€£ Trillions from World Banks. Hardly sustainable.

We ask you to spare a thought for politicians today, who want to do the right thing, but know how hard a sell zero growth is going to be. Our thanks go out to the European Commission's President, Ursular von der-Leyen, where under her steerage, and the cooperation of her 27 fellow commissioners, the EU is blazing an investment trail to be envied by the rest of the developed world.

WHAT IS NET ZERO?

Net Zero, is a state where vehicles and houses do not pollute, as in add to global warming, sometimes including carbon offsets.

Zero Emissions, is a state where vehicles do not emit pollutants. Including particulates and greenhouse gases.

Zero Growth, is a state where a country has attained a Circular Economy. None so far.

The concept of a Circular Economy, is a United Nations agenda under their Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) that most members have signed up for and endorsed. A target for a fairer world, and peaceful ascension to affordable energy and food security for all.

We all need to do our part. Our objective with the World Hydrogen Challenge (WHC), the Jules Verne Hydrogen Trophy (JVH2) is to accelerate the development of Zero Emission Waterborne Transport (ZEWT).

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  JULES VERNE WOULD HAVE LOVED THE CONCEPT OF NET ZERO, AND A SUSTAINABLE WORLD

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