Here are some of the findings from the latest science released last week on World Environment Day:
- The remaining carbon budget – how much carbon dioxide can be emitted before committing us to 1.5°C of global warming – is only around 200 gigatonnes (billion tonnes)
- Scientists note that this is around five years' worth of current emissions ⏲️
- This is significantly less than the calculations of the carbon budget from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) back in 2020 (around 500 gigatonnes (billion tonnes) of CO2)
- Each of the past 12 months has set a new global temperature record for that time of year 🌡️
- It is likely that at least one of next five years will be the warmest on record, beating 2023 as the warmest year on record 🥵
- There is a close to 50% chance that the entire 2024- 2028 period will be above the 1.5°C limit set by the Paris Agreement
(Sources: see here for the Earth System Science Data coordinated by the University of Leeds, here for the World Meteorological Organization, and here for the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service)
And yet, the following is happening:
- Far right political parties have gained seats at the European Parliament, a number of which campaigned to slow down the transition 🏫
- Both houses of the Swiss parliament rejected the European Court of Human Rights’ recent judgment on climate and human rights (KlimaSeniorinnen), finding that it represents judicial activism and interference in Swiss democracy
- Entrenched positions and divisions at UN discussions in Bonn have led to an unimpressive outcome, leaving the need for the G7 leaders in Italy to significantly step up
We need to take learnings from this. How do we get out of our ‘climate and human rights’ bubble? How do we reach people who need to be reached? How do we turn the narrative around? 🤔
We see significant opportunity in… surprise surprise… the just, equitable, inclusive nature of the green transition. 🌟 In fact, without it, the transition will simply not happen.
We need to do a better job at articulating what this means, what’s in it for the people of today, and what’s in it for the people of tomorrow. Research we read while in Dubai reinforces this by finding that there is one single message that brings all people together - irrespective of their differences and where they come from.
The message is this: it is this generation’s responsibility to protect the planet for the next generation. The message of protecting the planet for the next generation, and that later is too late, is THE message that galvanises the world to action. ❤️
I went to the exhibit ‘Now You See Us’ at Tate Britain last weekend, detailing the journey of women artists in the UK. It was really moving to see how they each built on each other’s contributions to - over many many years - be accepted as artists who could paint professionally, alongside men. 🎨
There is a letter from one woman artist (Anna Mary Howitt), longing to be a man to be accepted to paint at the Royal Academy. The response from her painter friend (Eliza Fox) is: “instead of lamenting that we are women, let us earnestly strive after a nobler state of things, let us strive to be among those women who shall first open the Academy’s doors to their fellow aspirants - that would be a noble mission, would it not?”
It would be a noble mission, indeed. And it would be a noble mission today to seek to bridge the divide on climate change and just transition. 🚀
We are reflecting ourselves on how we can take lessons from the latest political developments. We know that it’s harder for companies to respect human rights, implement a just transition and reach net zero without a strong enabling environment.
We look forward to further dialogue with all of you as we advance together
Anna
PS: If you need a bit of lightness while we do that, do watch Jon Stewart discuss climate change - my favourite parts are 6 min 44 and 8 min 18. As well as the top comment 😁
