HE Mr. Andrew Noble, the UK ambassador to Romania offered Energynomics a few thoughts on the expected outcomes of the COP26 conference in Glasgow. He also commented on how is Romania positioned in the fight against climate change with all the challenges we anticipate.

Thank you very much to Energynomics for having this discussion which makes my job as British ambassador in Romania much easier because what we want to ensure is that we have real momentum!

The future of energy is decided at COP26 but in fact, the future of our planet is going to be decided by what we decide at COP26 being implemented. Therefore, this sort of discussion and getting a truly global discussion going and real action to implement the decisions that our leaders are making today and for the next two weeks in Glasgow is what’s fundamentally important.

As hosts we feel a huge sense of responsibility, we feel in a way the weight of the world on our little puny shoulders, a little country of 66 million people. I think that’s because we feel passionate about the problem and the problem is extremely well documented, the UN process has given us the real metrics of what climate change means for all of us. I think there are lots of countries in the world where the debate about what does climate change mean is still in its infancy. I think there is a real need to talk about what does climate change mean for our planet and also for the bit of the planet that I live in. In my three years in Romania, I think I’ve not heard much about how do people understand climate change will affect them in Romania. There is a discussion of some of the components of the sustainability agenda, but actually the big issue of climate change and rising sea levels and increasing desertification, the problems of cataclysmic weather patterns – I’m not sure that those are things that the ordinary Romanian in the street or in the fields or in the forests particularly feels relevant to them. So I think that’s one very important dialogue that we need to take forward and we’re starting that today.

I think there is a risk that the components that are being talked about in Glasgow will go over the heads of people. But that’s where governments need to step in and actually make it relevant to the people, as well. The target to keep global temperature rise beneath 1.5 degrees is a hugely ambitious target and we can see already what a rise of less than 1.5 degrees is doing to our planet. Look at the coverage of wildfires in Australia or in California or in Greece. Very close, Greece! Think about what if Romania was having wildfires! What if wildfires were happening in the eastern Carpathians? Can it be excluded, as we march ever onwards to 1.5 degrees 2 degrees or even 10 degrees as is being postulated if we don’t do anything? So Romania could be a very different country!

What does it mean to keep the temperature increase below 1.5? Well, it means all the things that we’ve been hearing about in the last few days: lots and lots of small components. You know the methane agreement that was reached yesterday can contribute 0.2 per cent to our net-zero target. Tiny! Is it worth worrying about? Well, if you don’t do the methane, you’ve got to get that 0.2 in something else!

The British government has for a number of years been getting us, as Brits, used to the idea that there is going to be a dramatic change in the way that we live. We know in the UK that from 2030 we will not be able to buy a petrol or diesel car. They will not be on sale in the UK after 2030! There’s a huge impact that that decision had in the country as a whole and I think we’ve now got 45.000 charging points across the country that didn’t exist when it was a general idea, of yeah, well, at some stage diesel and petrol cars and vans will no longer be available. Give your country a date and the plans can be made, the solutions can be found. A lot of solutions are out there, a lot of solutions are being developed and the global dialogue that’s taking place about those solutions is really-really important that everybody gets involved with it. My job as British ambassador is to ensure that our chairmanship of the COP process really makes a difference.

The other big challenge of course is helping the developing world achieve these targets. Financing the greening of the developing world is going to be really important, but it’s in that area that I think Romania has got something very powerful to share. I don’t think Romania realizes quite how good it is, sometimes. I don’t have a figure for the economic growth in this country since 1990, [but] it’s pretty phenomenal! As you know, this place has been transformed even since joining the EU when Romania’s GDP per head was 30 per cent of the EU average and it’s now 70 per cent. Just a few years later! In this time, since 1989, Romanian emissions have decreased by 64 per cent so in a way Romania is probably one of the leading countries in the world in terms of reducing emissions AND increasing GDP. You’ve found the holy grail! And developing countries can actually look at what Romania has managed to do. I know there’s a lot of cynicism and scepticism, with people saying “well, yeah, because our heavy industry closed down”. Yes, it did, but the important thing is you found alternative methods for growth and with EBRD forecasting 7.2% GDP growth this year for Romania, you are doing SOMETHING right! You’ve already got the lowest emissions in the EU, you’ve already got the biggest unspoiled forest in the EU, you’ve got fabulous biodiversity, you’ve got big strengths and you’re becoming a rich country. Nobody in Romania will believe me when I say that, but it’s true! You’re a member of one of the richest clubs in the world, one of the biggest contributors to development in the developing world, including on these issues. You’re a big voice, you’re a big carbon sink, your river system drains nearly 8.000 square kilometres of Europe, you’ve got the biggest wetland in Europe, in the Danube. There is this superb work going on between academics from Romania, the UK, the Netherlands and Germany, a whole conglomerate of academics to decarbonize the Danube Delta. Some really good stuff is going on and I think it just needs mainstreaming, it needs championing, it needs to be the topic that we’re talking about all the time because that way we can talk about Romania’s huge achievements in sustainability, as well as looking at the things that are difficult. There are lots of countries with an even longer list than Romania of things that are really difficult and you’ve got some of the solutions.

So again, thank you very much for allowing me to start off this discussion, but I think it’s an area where we’ve all got a huge amount to learn. Mankind still hasn’t got all the solutions, and there are huge-huge challenges in front. However, a country such as Romania that has a knowledge economy you’re one of the places that actually can make a huge contribution to the global challenge

Thank you!

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