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Reasons to be very concerned

Human activity has changed the climate
  • the effects are cumulative and mostly irreversible
Action on climate change is not going according to plan:
  • in the
    Paris Agreement,[122]
    countries made commitments to limit global warming to 1.5°C (or at least to well under 2°C), which means phasing out fossil fuels
  • the scientific advice was that these commitments require
    "rapid and far-reaching transitions"[31]
    throughout society
The climate is continuing to deteriorate
  • total global CO2 emissions are still rising
  • in developed countries, emissions are not falling fast enough
  • the global temperature rise is close to 1.5°C
Government actions are not in line with the promises given
  • government actions are completely at variance with the speed of change needed
Governments have a poor record of decision making on important questions
  • in the UK, there is a recurring pattern of wasting billions of pounds on ineffective policies and ignoring effective policies
There is much concern about catastrophic errors in decision making
  • the UN Secretary-General has warned: "Some government and business leaders are saying one thing - but doing another. Simply put, they are lying."
  • climate protesters are very vocal and not deterred by long prison sentences.

Human activity has changed the climate
  • the effects are cumulative and mostly irreversible
  • the scale of harm being done by continued burning of fossil fuels is morally indefensible
    • it is the richest countries that are generating the CO2 emissions and the poorest countries that are suffering the worst effects
    • the average lifetime emissions from 6 UK residents are sufficient to cause one climate-related death, and probably several refugees [1]
    • current debates over ending the use of fossil fuels are akin to the debate in the UK in the 1830s over whether to end slavery
    • if global warming reaches 2°C, most coral reefs with have been permanently lost

Action on climate change is not going according to plan:
  • in the
    Paris Agreement,[122]
    countries made commitments to limit global warming to 1.5°C (or at least to well under 2°C), which means phasing out fossil fuels
  • the scientific advice was that these commitments require
    "rapid and far-reaching transitions"[31]
    throughout society

The climate is continuing to deteriorate
  • total global CO2 emissions are still rising
  • in developed countries, emissions are not falling fast enough
  • the global temperature rise is close to 1.5°C

Government actions are not in line with the promises given
  • government actions are completely at variance with the speed of change needed, e.g. in the UK, the Labour Government has recently
    • committed billions of pounds to unproven technology that will not make a difference for many years, if ever
    • kept fuel duty unchanged

Governments have a poor record of decision making on important questions
e.g. in the UK, there is a recurring pattern of wasting billions on ineffective policies and ignoring effective policies
  • errors in the preparation for pandemics
  • errors in procurement at the start of the covid-19 pandemic
  • errors in procuring NHS IT

There is much concern about catastrophic errors in decision making
  • the UN Secretary-General has warned: "Some government and business leaders are saying one thing - but doing another. Simply put, they are lying."
  • climate protesters are very vocal and not deterred by long prison sentences.

References

[1]https://www.carbonindependent.org/144.html


First published: 13 Feb 2025
Last updated: 21 Feb 2025     Page No: 183