Emissions must fall fast – but how?

Described as “a code red for humanity”, a new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that major changes due to global heating are inevitable and irreversible with devastating consequences for all life on Earth. The UN climate body’s stark appraisal has made the effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions all the more urgent. In its most optimistic scenario, the report predicts the world has a 50% chance of halting warming at 1.5°C the “safe” threshold in the Paris Agreement, providing it can reach net zero emissions by mid-century. That would entail emissions reaching a peak and then rapidly declining four years from now.

Matthew Paterson, a professor of international politics at the University of Manchester, argues that this shouldn’t technically be too difficult In energy, transport and housing, there are numerous alternatives to coal-fired power plants, petrol-fuelled cars and gas boilers that could be deployed at sufficient scale starting tomorrow. What’s preventing this shift is not technological, but political. From powerful fossil fuel companies, the political entanglements of nation states and scarce public finance support, the obstacles are enormous. COP26, the autumn’s climate talks in Glasgow, at least offer a window to thrash out these contradictions, but pressure must amp up on the national governments who’ll be attending it, Paterson says.

Scientific warnings can often fall on deaf ears, it seems. People with conservative views are more likely to reject climate change or evolution, but new research suggests the rift between science and the political right runs deeper than you might think. And as the UK joins other countries in extending COVID-19 vaccinations to 16- and 17-year-olds, we hear from an expert in clinical immunology about the potential benefits.

10 August 2021

THE CONVERSATION