A post shared on Twitter on September 2, 2023, makes claims about climate change, including that paper wind power and paper straws are a scam and that net zero is a lie. “Wind power is a scam, net zero is a lie,” the post states. The exact post with the same words was then shared here and here on Twitter and here and here on Facebook.
Background
Climate change as a result of human activity has been blamed for the recent frequency of natural disasters globally. Global leaders have been urged to cut down on carbon emissions, which the United Nations blamed for the ‘climate emergency’. These efforts culminated in the signing of the Paris Agreement in Paris, France, on December 12, 2015, when 193 states pledged to substantially reduce greenhouse emissions by 2030.
Verification
Paper straws were introduced as an alternative to single-use plastic straws. Single-use plastics manufacturing has been blamed for causing carbon emissions. A report by the Centre for International Environmental Law estimates that plastic manufacturing in 2019 caused emissions similar to 189 coal-fired power plants. In addition to that, used plastic straws end up in water bodies and ultimately the human food chain, posing a threat to marine and human life. The European Union banned single-use plastics in 2021 to “Reduce the impact of certain plastic products on the environment, in particular the marine environment, and on human health.”
The claim that wind power is a scam is inaccurate as wind together with solar contributed 10% of global electricity in 2021 according to Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2022. Wind power is defined by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy as the “process by which wind is used to generate electricity. In Kenya, wind contributed 16.54% of the energy in the generation mix, 2,052 GWh in total. See screen grab below.
One project for instance, Lake Turkana Wind Project, an independent power producer, contributed 1,573 GWh to the national grid in 2022 as per Kenya Power data.
The second claim states that net zero is a lie. University of Oxford defines net zero as “A state in which the greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere are balanced by removal out of the atmosphere.” According to the Energy Monitor, several countries have already achieved net zero. They are Bhutan, Madagascar, Suriname, Panama, Guyana, Comoros, Gabon and Niue.
To achieve net zero, a country will have to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions while removing the remaining emissions through methods such as planting more forests and using carbon-capturing technology. This is clear from the list of net zero countries as they have significant forest cover.
Verdict
The claim that Wind Power and net zero are scams is MISLEADING.
This fact check was published by Piga Firimbi with technical support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck newsdesk, through the African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA).
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