With coronavirus and the situation in Syria,it seems we’ve forgotten about other pressing issues such as climate change. Australia’s still burning and Greta is still marching. Are global leaders still watching?
Indeed, the topic of global warming has cooled down a bit in the past two months (pun intended). Maybe Covid-19 is just mother earth’s revenge for what we do to her. We have to wonder why the countries responsible for most emissions are affected by Corona the most. But maybe that is just due to the increased connectivity between these countries… only conspiracy theorists will know what is true.
Let us take this opportunity and provide a different approach to global warming and how international relations connect to it by looking at other leaders than the usual suspects (*cough* Trump *cough*). When we think of the West’s favourite villains in international relations; Putin, Xi, and MBS to name a few, we tend to think of them from a single angle, generally with a realist approach. We care about the power and influence these three individuals exercise and create within the world. But what if we told you that the three of them are helping us with an issue essential to the well-being of the world? All three leaders are helping to solve the problem of global warming. And all three are doing it with projects close to their hearts, creating unfortunate red flags for us. Specifically, Xi with the One-Belt-One-Road initiative, Putin with North Stream 2 and MBS with Aramco (the largest oil production company).
XI’s One-Belt-One-Road initiative is the most ambitious infrastructure project the world has ever seen. By resuscitating the Silk-Road, the Chinese aim to connect Beijing with Madrid via train tracks. With this, they are reducing the distance between Chengdu and Duisburg from 23000 kilometers by ship to 11000 kilometers by train. Although diesel-powered ships produce fewer C02-Emissions per kilometre than diesel-powered trains, the difference in distance is more than twice as much the train entails. And this is only assuming that the trains are powered by diesel. If electric trains or fuel-cell trains are in use, the advantage of trains compared to ships looms even larger.
We are not claiming that this was China’s number one motive for the 1B1R initiative, the quicker transportation time and the overwhelming maritime power of United States Aircraft carriers (23 modern swimming islands vs one old Soviet nutshell) were most likely the main drivers behind it. Nevertheless, in today’s world, you have to think pragmatically; especially about global warming. Thus, by moving major parts of the current 90% of world trade being shipped over the oceans onto train tracks, China stands to massively reduce the C02 Emissions caused by European Consumerism.
Another project feared by the West for overarching influence on others is Russia’s North Stream 2, a gas pipeline that will transport more natural gas from Russia to Europe. Criticism coming from the US claims that Europe will become even more dependent on gas from Russia. The US would much rather ship their own gas in a liquified version to Europe as it is always better to depend on an American than a Russian, right Sarah? However, as we learned in the previous paragraph, shipping isn’t so great for the environment. A pipeline, on the other hand, is (more or less C02) neutral. Furthermore, this gas will replace coal as a source of energy in Europe. Natural gas emits 50 to 60 percent less carbon dioxide (CO2) when combusted in a new, efficient natural gas power plant, a minimal CO2 footprint when compared with emissions from a typical coal plant. So, by exercising influence over Europe, Putin is actually saving the planet.
Our final, favourite villain is MBS. In the past few months, he has been pushing Aramco to the stock market. Subscribers with little knowledge about the stock market have probably asked themselves, “why would anyone hand out stocks of the most profitable company in the world?” The reason will be hard to process for anyone furious about the Khashoggi murder or MBS’ involvement in Yemen: MBS is using the money earned from Aramco’s stock market debut to further push his project securing a leading role for Saudi Arabia in the future, NEOM 2030. Neom is “a Startup the size of a country”, a city built in the desert, purely run by renewable energies and determined to solve the world’s problems– Israel on steroids.
All three projects by the West’s three arch-nemeses are, at least when it comes to global warming, actually doing good for the world, even if that’s not their main motivation. Whether it is Xi moving the transportation of goods from the ocean to train tracks, Putin helping to substitute coal through natural gas in Europe, or MBS using the profits gained through resources causing global warming to develop technologies for a greener future, you can’t help but admit there’s at least a little bit of good in everyone.
