Ditch fossil fuels to save lives
This summer has given those of us privileged to live in the richest countries considerable cause for reflection. Wildfires have killed dozens in Hawaii and torched swathes of Canada and Europe; in the southwest United States people have been taken to hospital with burns caused by touching super-heated pavements, following weeks of brutally hot weather. Residents of Beijing have suffered through both record rainfall and record high temperatures and just recently big swathes of central Spain are under water.
These and other symptoms – for instance, sea temperatures comparable to jacuzzis – signal that the global North’s perceived immunity to the dangers of climate change is waning fast. For years our relative wealth has insulated us to a degree that poorer countries cannot emulate.
There are a number of handbrakes holding back concerted action on climate change, while at the same time enriching those already on top. Among them is the influence of the fossil fuel industry, its legal might and the vast subsidies it receives. The IMF estimates that globally, fossil fuels were subsidised to the tune of $7 trillion USD last year.
Other less well-known examples include the global South debt crisis, the protection to wealth and climate-damaging assets afforded by investor treaties, and the labyrinthine and very lucrative bureaucracies that get in the way of funding for climate protections in poorer countries. International Institute For Environment and Development (IIED) research has found that over the last decade, the lowest-income nations have spent almost $100 billion USD more on debt repayments than they have received in funding to tackle global warming.
I call these ‘hidden handbrakes’, and IIED has created a new web tool to crowdsource the tracking of these problems.
Overall, I believe the handbrake that has held us back most significantly is a simple lack of collective political will. Our leaders have failed to take the climate crisis seriously and citizens of wealthy nations have not applied sufficient pressure to force them to act on emissions.
However, if the sand becomes so intolerably hot you can no longer bury your head in it then you will be obliged to do something about it. The need to fight climate change is now obvious to almost everyone, and if necessity is the mother of invention, then we should expect to see the beginnings of real change.
People in lower-income countries, who have done the least to cause the climate crisis, are usually the most vulnerable to its damaging effects and millions have been experiencing them for years. But global warming will come for everyone eventually, and the richest societies are discovering it can no longer be dismissed as someone else’s problem and may even be ceding leadership to those now better prepared through experience.
We’ve seen steps in the right direction recently. The Biden administration is pouring money into the renewables sector, pushing other economic powers to do similarly, and holding tentative climate talks with China – now the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter but which is making its own investments in the green sector.
This week New York is hosting the UN’s Climate Ambition Summit, where leaders are being urged to act more quickly to achieve net zero emissions and to demonstrate credible plans for a climate transition that is fair to all nations. You may recognise this desired outcome as one which has underpinned international negotiations for years, but which has thus far eluded us.
The tragedies of the summer should spur our politicians to act at this week’s summit. They can save lives by ignoring the lobbyists, ditching fossil fuels, and cutting emissions.
Tom Mitchell is Executive Director of the International Institute For Environment and Development.
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