Management strategies and their limitations
Sustainable energy resources
To meet increasing global demand for energy, while reducing the risk of either causing damage to the environment or contributing to global warming, it is important that:
- Developing countries reduce deforestation and all countries increase afforestation (plant many trees)
- All countries increase the use of low carbon technologies e.g. solar panels and develop existing sources that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly than fossil fuels
- Industries and domestic consumers of energy use it more efficiently to prevent waste
- Developed countries switch from fossil fuels to alternative sources 鈥 solar, wind, wave biomass, geothermal and hydroelectric power
Green Energy: wind and solar power.
As developing countries start to use more energy, they are encouraged to develop more sustainable sources of energy and to control their population growth so they use less.
The purpose of sustainability is to manage resources, or run projects or industries, so future generations can use the resources too. International concern has led many countries to try to reduce their use and consumption of carbon-based fossil fuels.
By reducing reliance on and usage of fossil fuels, and tapping on alternative and greener sources of energy, emissions of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, will fall, helping to reduce global warming and fight climate change.
World summits enable governments to get together and discuss global strategies. In 2015, 196 of the world's nations signed the Paris Agreement, which bound them to striving to keep the global temperature at no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
In 2019, the Scottish Parliament committed to reaching net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2045. The growth of renewable and sustainable energy is helping reduce our impact, but more action is needed to reach this target.