Another Two Years Lost To Climate Inaction, Says Greta Thunberg

The Guardian - Damian Carrington

Two years on from her first school strike, activist attacks ‘ignorance and unawareness’

A mural of Greta Thunberg by artist Jody Thomas in Bristol.

Two years on from Greta Thunberg’s first solo school strike for the climate, she says the world has wasted the time by failing to take the necessary action on the crisis.

Thunberg’s strike inspired a global movement, and on Thursday she and other leading school strikers will meet Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, which holds the rotating presidency of the European council. They will demand a halt to all fossil fuel investments and subsidies and the establishment of annual, binding carbon budgets based on the best science.

“Looking back [over two years], a lot has happened. Many millions have taken to the streets … and on 28 November 2019, the European parliament declared a climate and environmental emergency,” Thunberg said in an article for the Guardian with fellow strikers Luisa Neubauer, Anuna de Wever and Adélaïde Charlier.

“But over these last two years, the world has also emitted over 80bn tonnes of CO₂. We have seen continuous natural disasters taking place across the globe. Many lives and livelihoods have been lost, and this is only the very beginning.”

They said leaders were speaking of an “existential crisis”, yet “when it comes to action, we are still in a state of denial. The gap between what we need to do and what’s actually being done is widening by the minute. Effectively, we have lost another two crucial years to political inaction.”

Thunberg and her colleagues said fighting the climate emergency must involve rich nations stopping some of their polluting activities. “However, it’s a fact which most people refuse to accept. Just the thought of being in a crisis that we cannot buy, build or invest our way out of seems to create some kind of collective mental short-circuit. This mix of ignorance, denial and unawareness is the very heart of the problem,” they said.

The trillions of dollars being spent by governments in response to the coronavirus pandemic are seen as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put the world on course to halt global heating, with economists, scientists and health experts all saying the benefits would outweigh the costs.

However, G20 governments’ rescue packages are giving significantly more support to fossil fuels than to low-carbon energy. Germany’s recovery plan includes €40bn for climate measures such as electric vehicles, public transport and energy efficiency, and has been praised by green groups. But elsewhere, too little is being done, Thunberg and colleagues said.

“Even a child can see that the policies of today are incompatible with the current best available science,” they said.

Scientists calculate that global carbon emissions must be cut by half by the end of this decade if humanity is to have a reasonable chance of keeping temperature rises to below 1.5C, the limit set in the Paris climate deal. Drops in emissions during coronavirus lockdowns are only a small blip in a long-term rising trend and will have a “negligible” effect on the climate crisis, researchers say.

“We understand the world is complicated and that what we are asking for may not be easy or seem unrealistic,” said the school strikers. “But it is much more unrealistic to believe that our societies would be able to survive the global heating we’re heading for. We are inevitably going to have to fundamentally change, one way or another. The question is: will the changes be on our terms, or on nature’s terms?”

Links

• Greta Thunberg: the world is still in a state of climate crisis denial
• Greta Thunberg says EU recovery plan fails to tackle climate crisis
• Greta Thunberg in Bristol: thousands turn out for climate strike
• Global climate strike: Greta Thunberg and school students lead climate crisis protest – as it happened
• ‘We need everyone’: Greta Thunberg calls on adults to join climate strikes
• Germany’s AfD turns on Greta Thunberg as it embraces climate denial
• Greta Thunberg backs climate general strike to force leaders to act
• Greta Thunberg hopes to join climate protests during London visit
• Greta Thunberg nominated for Nobel peace prize

After Two Years Of School Strikes, The World Is Still In A State Of Climate Crisis Denial

The Guardian - Greta Thunberg | Luisa Neubauer | Anuna De Wever | Adélaïde Charlier

We can have as many meetings as we like, but the will to change is nowhere in sight. Society must start treating this as a crisis

‘The gap between what we need to do and what’s actually being done is widening by the minute.’ The Rhenish brown coalfield in Bergheim, Germany, Europe’s largest carbon dioxide source. Photograph: Sascha Steinbach/EPA

Authors Greta Thunberg is a 17-year-old environmental campaigner from Sweden. This article was co-written with youth climate activists Luisa Neubauer from Germany, Anuna de Wever from Belgium, and Adélaïde Charlier from Belgium

On Thursday 20 August, it will be exactly two years since the first school strike for the climate took place.

Looking back, a lot has happened.

Many millions have taken to the streets to join the decades-long fight for climate and environmental justice. And on 28 November 2019, the European parliament declared a “climate and environmental emergency”.

But over these past two years, the world has also emitted more than 80 gigatonnes of CO₂. We have seen continuous natural disasters taking place across the globe: wildfires, heatwaves, flooding, hurricanes, storms, thawing of permafrost and collapsing of glaciers and whole ecosystems. Many lives and livelihoods have been lost. And this is only the very beginning.

Today, leaders all over the world are speaking of an “existential crisis”. The climate emergency is discussed on countless panels and summits. Commitments are being made, big speeches are given. Yet, when it comes to action we are still in a state of denial.

The climate and ecological crisis has never once been treated as a crisis. The gap between what we need to do and what’s actually being done is widening by the minute. Effectively, we have lost another two crucial years to political inaction.

Last month, just ahead of the European council summit, we published an open letter with demands to EU and world leaders. Since then, more than 125,000 people have signed this letter. Tomorrow we will meet the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and deliver the letter and demands, as well as the signatures.

We will tell Merkel that she must face up to the climate emergency – especially as Germany now holds the presidency of the European council. Europe has a responsibility to act. The EU and the United Kingdom are accountable for 22% of historic accumulative global emissions, second only to the United States.

It is immoral that the countries that have done the least to cause the problem are suffering first and worst. The EU must act now, as it has signed up to do in the Paris agreement.

Our demands include halting all fossil fuel investments and subsidies, divesting from fossil fuels, making ecocide an international crime, designing policies that protect workers and the most vulnerable, safeguarding democracy and establishing annual, binding carbon budgets based on the best available science.

We understand the world is complicated and that what we are asking for may not be easy or may seem unrealistic. But it is much more unrealistic to believe that our societies would be able to survive the global heating we’re heading for – as well as other disastrous ecological consequences of today’s business as usual.

We are inevitably going to have to fundamentally change, one way or another. The question is, will the changes be on our terms, or on nature’s terms?

In the Paris agreement, world leaders committed themselves to keeping the global average temperature rise to well below 2C, and aiming for 1.5C. Our demands demonstrate what that commitment means. Yet this is just the very minimum of what needs to be done to deliver on those promises.

So if leaders are not willing to do this, they’ll have to start explaining why they’re giving up on the Paris agreement. Giving up on their promises. Giving up on the people living in the most affected areas. Giving up on the chances of handing over a safe future for their children. Giving up without even trying.

Science doesn’t tell anyone what to do, it merely collects and presents verified information. It is up to us to study and connect the dots.

When you read the IPCC SR1.5 report and the UNEP production gap report, as well as what leaders have actually signed up for in the Paris agreement, you see that the climate and ecological crisis can no longer be solved within today’s systems.

Even a child can see that policies of today don’t add up with the current best available science.

We need to end the ongoing wrecking, exploitation and destruction of our life support systems and move towards a fully decarbonised economy that is centred on the wellbeing of all people, democracy and the natural world.

If we are to have a chance of staying below 1.5C of warming, our emissions need to immediately start reducing rapidly towards zero and then on to negative figures. That’s a fact.

And since we don’t have all the technical solutions we need to achieve that, we have to work with what we have at hand today. And this has to include stopping doing certain things. That’s also a fact.

However, it’s a fact that most people refuse to accept. Just the thought of being in a crisis that we cannot buy, build or invest our way out of seems to create some kind of collective mental short circuit.

This mix of ignorance, denial and unawareness is at the very heart of the problem. As it is now, we can have as many meetings and climate conferences as we want.

They will not lead to sufficient changes, because the willingness to act and the level of awareness needed are still nowhere in sight. The only way forward is for society to start treating the crisis like a crisis.

We still have the future in our own hands. But time is rapidly slipping through our fingers. We can still avoid the worst consequences. But to do that, we have to face the climate emergency and change our ways. And that is the uncomfortable truth we cannot escape.

Links

• Report: Vital time being lost to climate inertia, say activists
• Another Two Years Lost To Climate Inaction, Says Greta Thunberg
• 'Our house is on fire': EU parliament declares climate emergency
• Global Carbon Emissions
• Why don’t we treat the climate crisis with the same urgency as coronavirus?
• Face The Climate Emergency​
• Global Warming of 1.5 ºC
• Governments planning to produce about 50% more fossil fuels by 2030

The Guardian View On Coronavirus And The Climate Crisis: Seize This Chance

The Guardian - Editorial

Greta Thunberg has warned that we have wasted valuable time in the fight against global heating. We need Green New Deals

Greta Thunberg, left, takes part in a protest on 5 March 2020. Photograph: François Walschaerts/AFP via Getty Images

In the early days of the pandemic, many people urged that societies could not and should not return to business as usual afterwards. Coronavirus not only confronted us with danger, but showed what was possible.

By forcing massive overnight change, it demonstrated that dramatic action could be taken when a crisis was urgent enough; that many people could agree to make sacrifices when truly necessary; and that governments could invest trillions when the future of their countries demanded it. But as the great pause has turned into a gradual reopening, there is little sign that these lessons have been learned.

Greta Thunberg’s call for climate action should be seen in this context. The campaigner, writing for the Guardian to mark the second anniversary of her first school strike, says the world has wasted that time. While millions have been inspired to follow her in protest, and the European parliament has declared a climate and environmental emergency, little action has resulted.

Over the last six months or so, the pandemic has not only demonstrated that change can be quicker than anyone anticipated, it has also offered a practical opportunity to reconfigure economies. Governments are spending money as they have never done in peacetime. Germany and South Korea have seized this chance for big green investments.

Others, including the UK, have not. Shockingly, G20 countries are spending much more in support of fossil fuels than on low-carbon energy in their rescue packages; few even imposed green targets when they bailed out the airlines, as France did.

Boris Johnson promised that Britain would “build back greener” and Rishi Sunak pledged a green recovery. Yet the chancellor’s summer statement showed precious little sign of that beyond the £3bn insulation programme – unimpressive given the £9bn promised in the Conservatives’ November manifesto. These shortcomings look all the more glaring when the UK is not on course to meet its 2025 or 2030 carbon targets, and when it will host next year’s crucial UN climate change conference.

They are also more concerning as we experience rising temperatures and strange weather patterns. A week ago, scientists warned that the past decade was the hottest ever recorded. In recent weeks Britons have sweltered through a heatwave and farmers have warned of the worst wheat harvest since the 1980s due to consecutive seasons of extreme weather.

Ms Thunberg’s article, co-written with fellow activists, notes that the movement’s demands may seem unrealistic – but that it is much more so to believe that our societies could survive the global heating and other disastrous ecological outcomes we are heading for: “The question is, will the changes be on our terms, or on nature’s terms?” they ask.

Just over a decade ago, the UN secretary general and others urged a Green New Deal in response to the global financial crisis. The world missed that opportunity, and looks set to repeat its mistake. But the benefits of a drastic shift in priorities are clearer than ever: economists and health experts say that they would outweigh the costs.

The World Economic Forum said last month that tackling what it calls the global nature crisis could create 400 million jobs and $10tn (£8tn) in business value each year by 2030 – while the current rate of destruction threatens half of global GDP.

There is still time to act. Economic rescue packages are still being shaped; Berlin’s has shown what is possible. In the UK, coal’s role in power generation has slumped from almost 25% to 2% in just a few years, and the offshore wind industry is thriving.

The ban on petrol and diesel cars slated for 2035 should be accelerated, and the installation of gas boilers outlawed. But above all, pandemic response spending must be directed to those parts of the economy that can reduce global heating, not worsen it.

Links

• Nature-led coronavirus recovery could create $10tn a year, says WEF
• Another Two Years Lost To Climate Inaction, Says Greta Thunberg
• Climate crisis exerting increasing impact on UK, says Met Office
• Last decade was Earth's hottest on record as climate crisis accelerates
• 'Our house is on fire': EU parliament declares climate emergency
• Global Carbon Emissions
• Why don’t we treat the climate crisis with the same urgency as coronavirus?
• Face The Climate Emergency​
• Global Warming of 1.5 ºC
• Governments planning to produce about 50% more fossil fuels by 2030