Governments have hitherto been far too hesitant to take on vested interests and are all too ready to protect historic investments in fossil fuels
The continued heating of the planet means that this year will probably be one of this century’s coolest. As the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes clear, current climate pledges by governments would not keep global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels – the target promised in the 2015 Paris agreement. Instead greenhouse gas emissions are rising. During the past decade, on average annually they were at their highest levels in human history.
The world is on a pathway to temperature increases of more than 3C in the coming decades. This would make large parts of the world too hot to work in. Severe harvest failures will become common. Disappearing ice caps would submerge major cities. Governments have hitherto been far too hesitant to take on vested interests and are all too ready to protect historic investments in fossil fuels.