Why we need to keep the fossil fuel and tobacco industries accountable and make them pay for damages

Why we need to keep the fossil fuel and tobacco industries accountable and make them pay for damages

The fossil fuel damage…..

Fossil fuels emitting carbon dioxide to the environment (http://www.climate-change-guide.com/causes-of-climate-change.html)

The fossil fuel industries generations huge amounts of carbon dioxide to the environment during energy generation, increasing the greenhouse effect on the environment on a daily basis. This effectively results in negative climate change effects yet it’s the ordinary person who is paying for it-the fossil fuel industry must own up and pay the damages. Individuals and climate change activists and policy makers must come up during COP 22 in Morocco, and ensure this is done. For over 40 years, the fossil fuel industry have known that their products including oil, coal, and natural gas are the primary causes of global warming and the resulting climate change worldwide. With the monthly global temperature increase exceeding 1 °Cdue to the carbon dioxide emissions, and the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration surpassing 400 ppm, a level which is a point of no return, future climate impacts are projected to cause more destruction to humanity and nature alike, yet the fossil industry turns a blind eye on thisdue to the monetary benefit on their industries (http://www.asiasentinel.com/opinion/fossil-fuel-industry-climate-damage/). Fossil companies must enforce green technologies that minimises climate change effects to the environment, have stringent policies on how they are combating climate change and must be accountable for educating people, if this is not addressed they surely must pay the prize in terms of taxes and fines for destroying our environment due to climate change. ‘The age of carbon is over’ and a transition to a greener economy is inevitable, says Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, adviser to the German government and Pope Francis

(https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/10/fossil-fuel-industry-must-implode-to-avoid-climate-disaster-says-top-scientist)

The tobacco industry damage…….

Likewise, to the fossil industries, tobacco industry must pay for the damage caused to the environment due to the fact that they are the major uses of fossil fuels during its drying process. Furthermore, tobacco smoking results in carbon dioxide emission to the environment According to the World Health Organization, tobacco smoking leads directly to the emission of 2 600 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and about 5 200 000 tonnes of methane.Data from 66 low- and middle-income countries showed that tobacco growing and curing caused significant deforestation between 1990 and 1995, amounting to approximately 2000 hectares – on average, 5% of each country’s estimated deforestation during that five-year period.Worldwide, approximately 13 000 000 hectares of forest are lost due to agriculture each year,and of this, at least 200 000 hectares are for tobacco agriculture and curing(http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/93/12/15-152744/en/). Deforestation is the second largest source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere (approximately 20%), after fossil fuel combustion.One estimate of the impact of deforestation in tobacco agriculture and curing is that it causes almost 5% of global greenhouse gas production (http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/93/12/15-152744/en/). If tobacco industries are not held accountable in terms of how they are going to mitigate climate change effects, deforestation and carbon dioxide emission to the environment will continually increase.

Both the fossil fuels and tobacco industries have potential to cause negative climate change effects and must be accountable in taking measures that combat climate change.

References

http://www.climate-change-guide.com/causes-of-climate-change.html

http://www.asiasentinel.com/opinion/fossil-fuel-industry-climate-damage/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/10/fossil-fuel-industry-must-implode-to-avoid-climate-disaster-says-top-scientist

http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/93/12/15-152744/en/

About the author

Dr. Mercy Manyuchi ’s main focus is on Climate Change Effects and Sustainability and is involved in conducting Environmental Impact Assessment as well as Green Technologies that compact climate change. As a Chemical Engineer, Mercy also focuses on sustainable technologies that look at combatting climate change.