💡Who else has listened to António Guterres’ ‘A Moment of Truth’ speech more than once?
🌎 World Environment Day always feels bittersweet when we know the science, the data and the studies showing us how far off we are in the protection of the planet, which in turn will come with significant impacts on people’s human rights - today already, but even more so in the future.
🙌 But listening to UN Secretary-General António Guterres as he addressed hundreds of negotiators from around the world on World Environment Day (this Wednesday) (as part of UN talks in Bonn, ahead of the G7 and G20 summits) felt real, honest and refreshing.
🫂 António Guterres has read the science too. And he knows the significant ripple effects that climate change will have on people. And he wants to ensure the negotiators feel uncomfortable, and act on this discomfort.
You can watch the full speech here at 13 minutes 30 seconds and read it here.
Here are just a few of the most powerful sentences from his speech:
“Humanity is just one small blip on the radar.
But like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, we’re having an outsized impact.
In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs.
We are the meteor.
We are not only in danger.
We are the danger.
But we are also the solution.”
“We are playing Russian roulette with our planet.
We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell.
And the truth is… we have control of the wheel.
The 1.5 degree limit is still just about possible.”
“The truth is… the battle for 1.5 degrees will be won or lost in the 2020s – under the watch of leaders today.
All depends on the decisions those leaders take – or fail to take – especially in the next eighteen months.
It’s climate crunch time.”
“The difference between 1.5 and two degrees could be the difference between extinction and survival for some small island states and coastal communities.
The difference between minimizing climate chaos or crossing dangerous tipping points.”
“It is a disgrace that the most vulnerable are being left stranded, struggling desperately to deal with a climate crisis they did nothing to create.
We cannot accept a future where the rich are protected in air-conditioned bubbles, while the rest of humanity is lashed by lethal weather in unliveable lands.
We must safeguard people and economies.”
📚 António Guterres also talks about climate justice and just transition, and - although all the press attention has been on his call for PR agencies to stop working for fossil fuel agencies - there is also an indirect call on lawyers to re-consider their work with the fossil fuel industry. (By the way, this comes in the midst of calls for a new social-moral norm calling for no new fossil fuel projects.)
🌡️ It comes as we have tons of new data released on World Environment Day including from top climate scientists at the University of Leeds showing that the remaining carbon budget to limit long-term warming to 1.5 degrees is now around 200 billion tonnes. We are burning over 40 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, so that leaves us … using all our carbon budget to limit long-term warming to 1.5 degrees by 2030 - six years from now…
🗳️ I leave you with one word: elections. OK, two: elections and money.
Participating in elections and civic space, and considering where your money is invested, are amongst the two most important things you can do today. I’m off to vote for the European Parliament elections on Sunday (courtesy of still having one foot in the EU with my French nationality). Whatever opportunity we have to shape the future ahead, let’s take it. 🇫🇷
Anna 💫
P.S.: Do you know what else happens with climate change? Disengagement. Companies start to move around - they no longer want to source from regions that are too volatile and hit by extreme weather events. They don’t want to source from places where temperature rises will make it more challenging to operate and source from. Companies have also started to move away from suppliers - long-term partners that were once trusted business partners and now are too carbon-intensive.
What happens to the people left behind? And what does this mean for a just transition? 👷
Find out more about this critically important topic of responsible disengagement - and the need to consider responsible engagement - as well as what companies can do about it, in our recent publication (see here) released with AIM-Progress, drawing on work with a wide range of FMCG companies on this exact topic
Reach out if you have experiences, insights to share - we need them all.
