There is no serious debate about the reality of man-made climate change. For four decades, we have known that increased CO2 emissions would have significant global effects.
Yet for four decades, we have made astonishingly little progress. Annual global carbon dioxide emissions are now 50% higher they were in 1980. The Kyoto Protocol, only met its meagre target thanks to the collapse of the Soviet Union. While the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit warming to “well below” 2°C represents a significant step forward, current contributions will not come near to meeting this ambition.
This dereliction of duty is mirrored by at the national level. In 2016, the UK government scrapped the Department for Energy and Climate Change, and with it, took climate change off the Cabinet’s agenda. The fringe passion project of pursuing Brexit was apparently more important.
Of course, many people have done what they can to live up to the scale of the challenge we face in spite of the government. For my part, I walk, cycle or take public transport, get my energy from a renewable supplier, buy second-hand clothes, reduce, reuse and recycle. I’m aiming for a sustainable diet in line with the findings of the EAT-Lancet report Food in the Anthropocene.
But the EAT-Lancet Commission does not place all the burden on individuals to change their behaviour. It is focussed on the entire food system, from production right through to consumption. It recognises the need for systemic changes to tackle climate change.
Such systemic change requires high-level support from policy makers, to tackle major sources of emissions, from the food and transport sectors, to housing and electricity generation.
What’s more, high-level action is needed so that people understand the gravity of the situation. Inertia is a powerful force; it is unrealistic to expect most people to make major behavioural changes when the government seems unconcerned. In all likelihood, people will need to be nudged into action by policy changes.
I don’t know what the solutions to Climate Change look like (although I have ideas). But it should not be down to people like me to work this out. The greatest minds in government and public policy should be focussed unswervingly on saving our planet from humanity. Instead, time, energy and attention is wasted on the scream into the void that is Brexit (a project which will weaken the very international institutions we need to tackle climate change).
Last week, the House of Commons held is first debate on climate change for over two years. There is a particular commentary which slams the debate for poor attendance. Yet this is missing the bigger point. The chamber was far from full, it is true, yet almost 40 members spoke over two and a half hours of debate.
Poor attendance was a symptom of the problem, rather than the problem itself. The debate was led, not by the government, nor even by the official opposition. It was a back-bench debate, led by members of two minority parties (the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party). The debate itself was detailed, despite being scheduled for a Thursday afternoon; the tag end of the parliamentary week, when many MPs where headed back to their constituencies.
The problem is not with attendance or engagement. The problem is that this debate would not lead to legislation or policy change. Although the minister for Climate Change and her opposite number in the shadow cabinet were both present, there is little sign of any real appetite to face this challenge head on. Until that changes, such debates will be little more than a talking shop.
And we need more than that.
We’re almost out of time.
We need to act.
Now.
Whatever's Left 