There is nowhere to run from the climate crisis faced by all humanity. A stark, authoritative study from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes that abundantly clear. The IPCC – the world’s top body of climate scientists – says we are on the brink of a global warming tailspin.
We are almost certain in the coming years to crash through a 1.5C global warming limit “guardrail” previously set by world leaders. And when that happens, the risk of “tipping point” events - like massive sea rises wiping whole territories off the map – will grow alarmingly high.
But what worries scientists even more is if we don’t stop relentlessly heating up our atmosphere, 1.5C will just be the start. Based on the current policies of world governments, the planet is projected to warm by well over 2C by the end of this century. But a rise of 2C is considered the most the Earth could tolerate without risking catastrophic changes to food production, sea levels, fishing, wildlife, deserts and water supplies.
The IPCC report should serve as a wake-up call. For too long, our leaders and politicians have sat on their hands, not doing nearly enough to address this crisis of truly epic proportions.
The onus is on governments now, to take the difficult decisions and do what must be done. That is starkly clear: we must drastically, rapidly, deeply reduce our use of fossil fuels.
For years and years, we’ve danced around this, wrung our hands, compromised and put it off. No wonder – it’s really difficult. In Scotland, with our massive North Sea industry, we know that as well as anyone.
But cutting our use of carbon-polluting fossil fuels is critical to humanity’s very survival. There is no way around that. And Scotland can use the lessons we’ve learned to help the world, as we all seek that “just transition” to clean energy.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said, on coal, he hopes rich countries will have weaned themselves off that fuel source by 2030. But he added developing countries, rightly, should get more time – until 2040.
After that, it’s crucial that workers across the globe in this industry aren’t left on the scrapheap like Scotland’s miners were in the 1980s. But that’s why it’s so vital our lawmakers and leaders take action now – concrete and substantive – towards these goals, so we can start properly planning for the future.
As one IPCC scientist says, this doesn’t have to be doomsday. Climate scientists have given us all the information we need to set humanity on a better path.
But the experts also stressed something else: the window for action is closing. And we’re quickly running out of time.
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