In light of a recent UN research that reveals that a half-degree more warming will damage hundreds of millions of people, devastate coral reefs, and worsen heat extremes, world leaders have been advised that they have a moral imperative to step up their efforts to address the climate catastrophe.
But the lacklustre response from the governments of Britain, Australia, and other nations highlights the tremendous political obstacles that must be overcome for adoption of the pathways to the relatively safe limit of 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures, which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change outlined on Monday (IPCC).
There is not much time for disputes because the report will be delivered at COP24, a significant climate meeting, which will take place in Poland in December. According to the research, emissions must be reduced by 45 percent by 2030 in order to maintain global warming to 1.5°C. Due to the fact that big investments typically have a lifespan of at least ten years, decisions must be made on the decommissioning of coal power plants and their replacement with renewable energy sources within the next two years.
UN special envoy on climate change Mary Robinson suggested that Europe lead an example by setting a goal of having zero carbon emissions by 2050. Since then, it has been clear that 2C is harmful. “Before this, people talked hazily about staying at or below 2C,” she added. Therefore, it is crucial for governments to assume responsibility, but we must all take action where we can.
If the more aggressive goal is to be met, the UK, which has advanced farther than other countries by decreasing its yearly emissions by 40% since 1990, will need to step up.
Energy Minister Claire Perry announced that the government will lay out its next moves in the coming days: “I appreciate the solid scientific foundation that the IPCC report’s findings are built upon. To reduce the costs and suffering caused by a fast warming planet, governments must collaborate to speed up the low-carbon transition.
However, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas criticised her for failing to outline how this would be accomplished, claiming that the UK government has cut funding for renewables, advanced fracking and airport development, and continues to subsidise fossil fuels.
According to Lucas, “the government would commit today to undoing the fuel duty freeze announced last week and restoring the restriction on onshore wind turbines if ministers are serious about taking the measures they concede is necessary. Additionally, Claire Perry has to cease imposing fracking on areas that have refused it.
The UK has a solid track record, but Bob Ward of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change said it has to be more ambitious, which would call for action from more departments of the government. For instance, the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government must take more initiative to ensure that buildings are made as carbon-free as feasible as soon as possible. Additionally, the Department of Transportation has to set higher goals for the creation of electric cars.
The new 1.5C study will be discussed, along with potential policy solutions, during a conference of politicians, scientists, and climate campaigners on Wednesday in parliament, which will be presided over by Lord Krebs, a former member of the Committee on Climate Change.
Jim Skea, the co-chair of the IPCC working group on mitigation, will be present. The political leaders taking this seriously is Skea’s utmost wish. “We can’t keep on with little adjustments or business as usual.”
However, there is growing opposition from the world’s influential fossil fuel and agriculture industries, who fund governments that are indifferent to or opposed toward taking action on climate change. Although the new IPCC report emphasised the urgent need for reforestation and greater forest protection, Jair Bolsonaro, who has pledged to abandon the Paris Agreement and allow farmers and miners access to the Amazon rainforest, won the first round of the Brazilian presidential election within hours of its publication.
Additionally, Donald Trump declared that the US will leave the climate agreement. The prime minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, also said that there was no funding for “global climate conferences and all that stuff.”
But no government has really quit yet, and civil society organisations claim that the latest scientific research will help them put pressure on decision-makers to aim for the safer, lower level of warming.
As stated by Rachel Kennerley of Friends of the Earth, “Any administration, and it would seem mainly the US and Australia, that pursues harmful domestic policies and tears apart science consensus is a hazardous outlier by disregarding the catastrophic repercussions today due to climate catastrophe.”
“International collaboration is clearly preferred, but the rest of the globe will need to step up efforts; it’s a blind spot to the global initiatives this study outlines, but it’s also not insurmountable.”
The urgent message of the research “must be conveyed into the halls of power and the negotiation rooms at COP24,” according to Andrew Steer, president of the World Resources Institute. It should be a moral requirement for all international leaders to do this.
