FOR anyone with a keen sense of irony, the latest round of climate talks offer rich pickings. Not only is the meeting being held in Katowice, Poland – the coal-mining capital of one of Europe’s most coal-addicted countries – but the talks are also sponsored by a coal company, JSW. It is shameless about its motives. “We hope that our participation… will contribute to promotion of JSW as an environment-friendly leader of the mining industry,” , Daniel Ozon.
As a symbol of the rich and powerful’s attitude to climate change, you couldn’t get more apposite. The world has already warmed by 1°C and is all but committed to 1.5°C, which scientists say is the maximum tolerable rise. But global carbon dioxide emissions are still growing. At the rate we are going, we will get to 1.5°C as soon as 2030, then watch it vanish in the rear-view mirror as we hurtle towards 3, 4 or even 5 degrees of warming.
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Almost every day brings more bad news. In France, riots erupt over fuel tax rises to fund green energy. The World Meteorological Organization gases are at record levels. The UN is an “enormous gap” between what we need to do and what we are actually doing. President Trump scoffs at a that climate change is already harming people in the US. Biodiversity scientists of an “enormous extinction iceberg”.
It still isn’t too late. If we do everything and we do it now, we have a shot at limiting warming to 1.5°C (see “Seven steps to save the planet: How to take on climate change and win”). In other words, world leaders have a rare opportunity, right now, to actually save the world. That must include a concrete plan to get off fossil fuels, and inviting JSW doesn’t inspire confidence that this is on the agenda. But now really is our last chance. We can’t blow it.
This article appeared in print under the headline “Climate moment”
