Fantasy tech won’t fix the climate

As the climate crisis deepens, Jamie Williams, Islamic Relief’s Senior Policy Advisor on poverty reduction, reflects on current debates about new technologies being promoted to justify continued fossil fuel use.

For at least the forty years Islamic Relief has been in existence, there has been an awareness of the dangers of global heating through human activity. During the same time, those most responsible for this heating – industrialised countries and the coal, oil and gas businesses powering them – have been busy denying, distracting and delaying action to deal with the threat to humanity.

The action that is needed is that emissions of the greenhouse gasses causing heating be reduced dramatically and immediately. That means ending fossil fuels.

The latest tactic from the oil lobby is to distract from action by talking about phasing out fossil fuel emissions, not the fossil fuels themselves. This leaves the door open for further gas and oil exploration while relying on technologies to capture the carbon pollution produced from burning them. Rich country governments talk about storing carbon emissions under the sea so they can continue to sell licenses for oil and gas exploration.

Islamic Relief’s new climate action position paper Technical Fixes describes this carbon capture and storage technology, as well as other so-called fixes: carbon-dioxide removal and geoengineering. It shows that, rather than being based in any practical reality, they are fond imaginings of those who want to get richer by maintaining business as usual. These technologies either do not yet exist, are unproven, of such small scale as to be irrelevant, or too expensive.

However, there are alternatives. Carbon can be sequestered by using the nature-based solutions of afforestation and sustainable land management. Energy strategies can focus on scaling up proven renewable technologies, developing energy storage, supporting energy efficiency and reducing demand.
It is better to transform the systems and behaviours that cause the climate crisis than rely on untried technologies and fixes, like using chemicals and barriers to ‘play God’ with the Earth’s climate system to influence the weather, which clearly threaten peace and security, and increase inequalities.

Our new paper sets out Islamic Relief’s position on the various technologies and their alternatives.

Meanwhile, we continue to work with the poorest and most marginalised people to deal with the consequences of climate breakdown. To help our work, please donate now.