Beyond net zero: toward a carbon symbiosis society

For more than a decade, governments around the world have pursued Net Zero as the defining goal of climate policy. Carbon dioxide has increasingly been portrayed as a pollutant that must be eliminated, and national success is often measured by the number of emissions reduced.

For many years, U.S. climate regulations based on the EPA's Endangerment Finding applied only within the United States, home to about 340 million people, roughly 4% of the world's population

Yet despite trillions of dollars invested in decarbonization, many countries are discovering that the transition is proving more difficult than expected. Electricity prices have risen, concerns about energy security have intensified, and industries that depend on affordable energy face growing uncertainty.

Perhaps it is time to ask a more fundamental question.

Are we solving the right problem?

For billions of people living in developing countries, the greatest challenge is not achieving Net Zero. It is escaping poverty while gaining access to reliable energy, transportation, clean water, healthcare, education, and economic opportunity.

The global discussion should therefore begin with people-not simply with carbon.

The world's greatest challenge is energy poverty

More than half of the world's population still lives on modest incomes.

For many families, daily life means cooking over wood, charcoal, crop residues, or animal dung in poorly ventilated homes. Indoor air pollution causes millions of premature deaths every year. Reliable electricity, clean cooking, refrigeration, sanitation, and transportation remain unavailable to many communities.

These are immediate human problems.

Economic development has always depended on access to affordable and reliable energy. Every country that has escaped poverty has first developed the ability to produce food efficiently, transport goods, build industries, educate its people, and provide modern healthcare. Without energy, none of these become possible.

Before discussing Net Zero, the world should first ask how billions of people can achieve a decent standard of living.

Modern civilization depends on more than electricity

Modern civilization depends on an enormous network of electricity, transportation, manufacturing, and materials.