Planet on the Brink

The climate negotiations have kicked off this week and likely no one is holding their breath that any major breakthrough will actually take place.

It’s very likely the world will overshoot 1.5°C within the next decade, despite what was pledged a decade ago in Paris.

Last month, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres stated that it’s “inevitable” that global heating will breach the 1.5°C goal set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. “The truth is that we have failed to avoid an overshooting above 1.5C in the next few years,” he said. “And that going above 1.5C has devastating consequences. Some of these devastating consequences are tipping points, be it in the Amazon, be it in Greenland, or western Antarctica or the coral reefs.”

A 'Grim New Chapter'

The recently released report, The 2025 state of the climate report: a planet on the brink, lays out the situation in start terms:

We are hurtling toward climate chaos. The planet’s vital signs are flashing red. The consequences of human-driven alterations of the climate are no longer future threats but are here now. This unfolding emergency stems from failed foresight, political inaction, unsustainable economic systems, and misinformation. Almost every corner of the biosphere is reeling from intensifying heat, storms, floods, droughts, or fires. The window to prevent the worst outcomes is rapidly closing… These recent developments emphasize the extreme insufficiency of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mark the beginning of a grim new chapter for life on Earth.

Pulling Back From the Brink of Failure

The report authors, and most climate scientists, conclude that avoiding every fraction of a degree of warming is critically important. 

The State of the Climate report did list some steps to change the above trajectory:

• Climate change mitigation strategies are available, cost effective, and urgently needed. From forest protection and renewables to plant-rich diets, we can still limit warming if we act boldly and quickly.

• Social tipping points can drive rapid change. Even small, sustained nonviolent movements can shift public norms and policy, highlighting a vital path forward amid political gridlock and ecological crisis.

• There is a need for systems change that links individual technical approaches with broader societal transformation, governance, policies, and social movements.

The Time to Act is Now

So where does that leave the world?  UN secretary general, António Guterres, said the world was facing a “moral failure and deadly negligence” if governments failed to limit global heating to 1.5C.

A recent New York Times article that noted how China’s emergence as a renewable-energy superpower is helping countries such as Brazil, India and Vietnam rapidly expand solar and wind power.  Nepal and Ethopia are turning to battery-powered cars, and Nigeria is building its first solar-panel manufacturing plant. This is how to address  the“moral failure” and inaction to address climate impacts.

[Photo: Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash]

There is no crystal ball that will show us if the world will fail, or if it will just possibly change course. What we do know is we need to act now and seriously get off fossil fuels as quick as we can.

Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of the UN framework convention on climate change, kicked off the COP global gathering by acknowledging the price of failure to address the climate crisis.

“Not one single nation among you can afford this, as climate disasters rip double digits off GDP,” he said. “To falter whilst megadroughts wreck national harvests, sending food prices soaring, makes zero sense economically and politically. To squabble while famines take hold, forcing millions to flee their homelands – this will never be forgotten as conflicts spread.”

Stiell concluded that “When climate disasters decimate the lives of millions, when we already have the solutions, this will never, ever be forgiven.”

This is what we need to focus on – we indeed have the solutions to address the climate crisis and that future generations – today’s youth – will not forgive us for sitting back on our heels. Nor should they forgive us. Continuing to exploit and destroy our living planet, when we possess both the knowledge and the tools to avert the climate crisis, is a crime against humanity, and Nature.  

Suzanne York is Director of Transition Earth.