How payments can help save the planet
Technology can help businesses and consumers be more sustainable
A world struggling for 1.5°C
In March, the UN published the Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. The report was the output of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The last such report having been published back in 2014.
The report stated that temperatures have now risen 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels. In 2015 at the Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, world leaders agreed to try and limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C.
The Synthesis Report concluded :
The 1.5°C limit is still achievable and [this report] outlines the critical action required across sectors and by everyone at all levels.
But, despite the efforts of civil society and - some - politicians, it will take a lot of work to meet this target. Meeting this target requires a considerable reduction in emissions. Also meeting the target means significant growth in technologies such as carbon capture.
To hit 1.5°C will be very difficult, as this will need emissions to reduce by 69% from 2019 levels by 2040.
Experts in this field, such as author Gaia Vince, writing in her book Nomad Century, see 1.5°C as a lost cause:
To keep below 1.5°C of heating, we’d have to halve global emissions by 2025, and reach net zero by 2050. Instead our greenhouse gas emissions are growing, temperatures are rising, ice-melt is accelerating, and climate change is, as scientists predicted, getting worse.
Also
Given current policies implemented since the COP26 climate conference in 2021, we are charting a pathway somewhere between 4.5°C and 6.0°C, with the former now slightly more likely… Indeed, we may well reach 4°C earlier than 2100, perhaps by 2075.
As the global temperature rises, so do the stakes. Everyone will be asked to do more.
The world has recently been through a tough period with the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, sustainability took a back seat to public health concerns.
Related to this - a personal anecdote. Before the pandemic, it was common in the UK to see cafés offering discounts if customers used a reusable coffee cup.
Many people were doing this, saving money and helping the environment by using reusable coffee cups. Before the pandemic, some companies provided their employees with branded reusable cups.
But during the pandemic, there was concern that re-useable cups could assist in spreading the virus. Nearly everywhere stopped accepting reusable cups. Now that pandemic-era restrictions have gone, fewer reusable cups are being used.
This anecdote is a small example. But as climate change's impact becomes more visible to everyone, we all will need to take more action.