Why world will fail to tackle climate change unless politicians realise one simple fact
Politicians need to maintain the support of their electorates if they are to succeed in the fight against climate change
As world leaders prepare the COP30 climate summit, it is clear that many people, in many countries, no longer support efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The reasons why cannot be casually dismissed.
Inspiring the whole of humanity to make major changes was never going to be easy. Politicians should now be in no doubt that they must find better ways of taking people with them on the journey towards net zero.
As demonstrated by the SNP as much as anyone, this enormous task is not helped by making grandstanding announcements about ‘world-leading’ targets – creating the impression that action is being taken – but doing little real work to actually meet them.
READ MORE: Why Jeremy Clarkson's discovery of 'genuinely alarming' effects of climate change is so important
Instead, the focus should be on practical, step-by-step improvements, doing the simplest things quickly while coming up with solutions to the more difficult problems. In Scotland, helping more people switch to electric vehicles and from gas boilers to low-carbon heating systems are two of the biggest challenges that the Scottish and UK governments must address.
In doing so, they need to be mindful that politicians who issue unachievable instructions to the electorate will soon find themselves out of office. The danger is that the backlash becomes so great it sweeps away all efforts to tackle climate change.
READ MORE: How humanity is about to enter climate danger zone with 'catastrophic risks' for billions
The Reform party’s ridiculous “net stupid zero” slogan suggests this country should abandon the struggle. However, facile arguments that Britain does not need to do anything about global warming because it produces less than one per cent of global emissions fall apart when confronted by the basic fact that the UK’s population is also less than one per cent of the world’s. If humanity divides itself up into small enough groups, they can all argue they don’t need to do anything as wildfires rage and sea levels rise all around them.
Speaking in Brazil last week, Prince William said everyone attending the COP30 summit understood “we are edging dangerously close to the Earth's critical tipping points… thresholds beyond which the natural systems we depend on may begin to unravel. The melting of polar ice, the loss of the Amazon, the disruption of ocean currents… these are not distant threats. They are fast-approaching and will affect every one of us, no matter where we live.”
The scientific community’s warnings have been proved accurate by the passage of time. Politicians now bear the heavy responsibility of leading humanity on a path that avoids the worst effects of what remains our most dangerous threat. They must not fail.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.