Climate reporters badly needed

THE EDITOR: The world watched on as the statistics came out of the recent COP27 climate talks in Egypt.

TT is an oil and gas producer, no matter how small. Former US vice president Al Gore stated in his opening-day speech that the dash for (natural) gas is "a bridge to nowhere" and yet a few weeks later our Minister of Energy Stuart Young said it was the cleanest fuel.

At the conference, Gore launched a greenhouse gas emissions global inventory. He said that "new data on methane leaks and flaring suggests that emissions are likely three times higher than what was reported to the UN."

Methane is a greenhouse gas almost 80 times more potent in the short term than carbon dioxide. TT therefore produces methane.

In her COP27 speech, Minister of Planning and Development Penelope Beckles stated she will "take a cabinet note to soon formalise the system into a legislative framework to make greenhouse gas reporting and mitigation actions mandatory."

Can I ask the local media houses to appoint climate reporters to keep on top of all this? There is a serious urgency here. We need clear reporting and pressure for our leaders to keep their promises.

The Prime Minister has recently signed off on important agreements with BP and Shell, with commitments until 2035. Yet, at COP27, Beckles stated that TT has a "long-term strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050." What is going to happen between 2035 and 2050?

The world is looking and we are looking now more closely than ever. Indeed, leadership at this time is critical. We are on the clock.

JOANNA MOHAMMED

via e-mail