TOPIC: CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY, AND RESOURCES
RESEARCH QUESTION: CAN RENEWABLE ENERGY EFFECTIVELY IMPROVE
THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE WORLDWIDE?
Name: Pham Chi Khang
Centre Number: VN181
Student Number:
School: Vinschool Secondary and High School T37
Teacher: Mary Jane Sevilla
Word Count:
1
Introduction:
Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, human activities are the main causes
of Climate, Earth’s temperature on land and ocean surface are 1.2 celsius degrees warmer
than the average 20th century average temperature. By now climate change is the problem
that every worldwide is facing now and up to now1. By now, people have thought of
hundreds of solutions to improve this situation but using renewable energy is one of the most
effective ways. Countries that are using renewable energy are Brazil and Argentina (98%)
have 30 times less greenhouse gases with a fixed electrical cost.2
Causes:
The reasons for climate change are because of the greenhouse effect, which is when
some gases specifically damage the ozone layer causing there to be a hole trapping sunlights.
These are caused by 4 main gases and they are created because of human activities which
imbalance the gases causing air pollution. Nitrous oxide also comes from burning fossil fuels
and has increased by 18% in the last 100 years.3. And another reason is because of human
daily life activity, we mainly use non-renewable energy and to get these factories to burn
fossil fuel and coal. We do this for transportation for our daily lives and for electricity, this
will cause the greenhouse effect.4
1
Salas, E. B. (n.d.). Topic: Global climate change. Statista.
https://www.statista.com/topics/1148/global-climate-change/#topicOverview
2
Microsoft. (n.d.). Bing.
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=evidences%2Bof%2Brenewable%2Benergy%2Bimprv
oing%2Bclimate%2Bchange&mid=56BCCB94E2069A529F2956BCCB94E2069A529F29&mcid=3CCF43240
7064617AD6E9A6BF20814AF&FORM=VIRE&adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=3E82071484CD4F96AB05A8
F9116049C2
3
NASA. (n.d.-b). Causes - NASA science. NASA. https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/causes/
4
United Nations. (n.d.). Causes and effects of climate change. United Nations.
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/causes-effects-climate-
2
Consequences:
And for these consequences of our daily lives activities, we have to face various
natural disasters and various changes in the environment. As of 2022, the global temperature
has increased 1.2 celsius degrees above the pre industrial day and this is expected to reach 1,8
celsius degrees by the end of the 21th century. According to the source, up to now we are
having 78 numbers of named tropical cyclones and the number is still increasing, 170 flood
disasters worldwide, and mean sea level variation is now 98mm. These are some of them and
the consequences are lost in 1.38 million USD, 263 deaths to wildfire, and 32.4 million
people get affected by floods5.
National perspective:
According to the source, a new report says that Germany’s climate policies are
working well, with the emissions dropping, especially in energy, as fossil fuel usage is
reduced. However, transportation and buildings is a work in progress to meet the climate
goals of the country. Climate Minister Robert Habeck believes Germany is on track for its
2030 targets, thanks to the government’s strong action. He expresses that investing in climate
protection and economic modernization is important to keep up the situation. While the
change#:~:text=Causes%20of%20Climate%20Change&text=Generating%20electricity%20and%20heat%20by,
and%20trap%20the%20sun’s%20heat.
5
Topic: Climate change effects. (n.d.). https://www.statista.com/topics/11359/climate-change-effects/
3
situation is improving , further efforts are needed to ensure all sectors contribute to
Germany’s climate goals6.
Global perspective:
Climate change is a hard problem and according to the United Nations, it deserves a
global response—something as severe as international treaties like the Paris Agreement to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase renewable energy developments, and implement
strategies for adaptation to changing climates. In addition, the UN supports that the best
response comes from scientists who recognize the issue blended with local voices so that the
final decision is locally and effective in any given environment. After all, climate change is a
negative international problem caused by humans, resulting in consequences for the natural
world and humankind. intervention is needed not only to prevent disasters in the future but
also for future strategies7.
Different perspective:
6
“Positive Assessment of German Climate Policy.” deutschland.de, February 6, 2025.
https://www.deutschland.de/en/news/positive-assessment-of-german-climate-policy.
7
“Climate Change.” United Nations. Accessed February 9, 2025. https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/climatechange.
4
This article features an interview with Daniel Schrag, a Harvard professor in geology
and environmental science. In the interview, Shragg discusses his journey in climate science
which has nothing similar with his academic background due to its policy implications. He
talked about how important it is in adapting to climate change, he said that even if humans
achieves zero carbon emissions, certain events like the melting of Greenland's ice sheet, are
likely to be irreversible and will continue for the next generations8.
Course of action:
There are a lot of things to do for mankind to adapt and improve climate change but
one of the most effective strategies is to use more renewable energy sources. Renewable
energy is a source of energy that regenerates on its own within a human lifetime, for example
solar energy or wind energy is renewable energy, they both are unlimited and way less
harmful for the environment compared to non renewable energy9. Renewables contributed to
avoiding nearly 5 gigatonnes of CO₂ emissions globally in 2022 by replacing fossil fuelbased power generation10.
Evaluation of sources:
The first source I chose is from Harvard, it is an interview with an expert there. The
reason why this source is reliable is that both the writer and the person being interviewed are
8
Conforti, Tom. “Climate Change: Perspectives from a Scientist and a Scholar.” Harvard ALI Social Impact
Review, July 31, 2023. https://www.sir.advancedleadership.harvard.edu/articles/climate-change-perspectivesfrom-a-scientist-and-a-scholar.
9
“Renewable Energy and Its Importance for Tackling Climate Change.” Natural History Museum. Accessed
February 16, 2025. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/renewable-energy.html.
10
Iea. “Renewables - Energy System.” IEA. Accessed February 16, 2025. https://www.iea.org/energysystem/renewables?utm_source=chatgpt.com.
5
from Harvard, the author Tom Conforti executive vice president and CFO of Wyndham
Worldwide, a publicly traded lodging and leisure conglomerate and more achievements. The
expert being interviewed is Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering at Harvard
University and Director of the Harvard University Center for the Environment. The source is
related to my topic.
The second source is statista, the author of the source is Brune Alves a researcher
specializing in environment and sustainability topics worldwide, with a focus on the
Americas and Europe and she is now focusing on waste generation, trade, and recycling. The
source has shown a lot of specific information and their numbers, the source is very up to
date by the moment.
Reflections :
Throughout this research project of mine, I have learned many things about statistics
or even about the fact that even if the world achieves zero carbon emissions then the events
that already happened like the ice melting that is happening now is irreversible so we have to
start acting fast to reduce them. I know that actions from the government are very needed to
adapt to climate change and to reach the goal of the paris agreement. In this research I have
developed my research and reading skills, i hope in the future I can still improve my writing
skills.
6
Bibliography:
-
-
Salas, E. B. (n.d.). Topic: Global climate change. Statista.
https://www.statista.com/topics/1148/global-climate-change/#topicOverview
Microsoft. (n.d.). Bing.
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=evidences%2Bof%2B
renewable%2Benergy%2Bimprvoing%2Bclimate%2Bchange&mid=56BCCB
94E2069A529F2956BCCB94E2069A529F29&mcid=3CCF432407064617A
D6E9A6BF20814AF&FORM=VIRE&adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=3E8207
1484CD4F96AB05A8F9116049C2
7
-
-
NASA. (n.d.-b). Causes - NASA science. NASA.
https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/causes/
United Nations. (n.d.). Causes and effects of climate change. United Nations.
United Nations. (n.d.). Causes and effects of climate change. United Nations.
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/causes-effects-climatechange#:~:text=Causes%20of%20Climate%20Change&text=Generating%20e
lectricity%20and%20heat%20by,and%20trap%20the%20sun’s%20heat.
Topic: Climate change effects. (n.d.).
https://www.statista.com/topics/11359/climate-change-effects/
-
“Climate Change.” United Nations. Accessed February 9, 2025.
https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/climate-change.
-
Conforti, Tom. “Climate Change: Perspectives from a Scientist and a Scholar.” Harvard ALI
Social Impact Review, July 31, 2023.
https://www.sir.advancedleadership.harvard.edu/articles/climate-change-perspectives-from-ascientist-and-a-scholar.
-
Iea. “Renewables - Energy System.” IEA. Accessed February 16, 2025.
https://www.iea.org/energy-system/renewables?utm_source=chatgpt.com.
-
“Renewable Energy and Its Importance for Tackling Climate Change.” Natural History
Museum. Accessed February 16, 2025. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/renewableenergy.html.