Coal and other fossil fuels are “choking humanity”. Those were the words of António Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, in response to the sobering recent International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report which warned that the world has a small window remaining to act before irreversible and catastrophic impacts are locked in.
People around the world are already paying the price with their lives and livelihoods. In 2021, the 10 biggest extreme weather events cost $170bn in damages.