Viewpoint: Climate Crisis - The public needs to react

In 1962, when I was 29, I was very concerned about the Cuban Missile Crisis. The US and Soviet Union were, it seemed, on the brink of starting a nuclear war. Luckily, neither President Kennedy or Nikita Khrushchev thought war was either necessary or winnable, and with some help from Pope John XXIII peace prevailed.

Now, 61 years later, we are faced with another catastrophic threat: the destruction of the human race by irreversible climate change and the incredible reluctance of the nations of the world since 1992 to agree a strategy that would make this impossible.

The next opportunity to save humanity will be at COP28 in Dubai, which starts today, but the outlook could not be bleaker.

In its latest report, the United Nations (UN) Environment Programme states that there is a 'missions canyon' between current policies and what is required to stop the Earth heating beyond safe limits. The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, has described this as "a failure of leadership, a betrayal of all the vulnerable and a massive, missed opportunity."

The UN says that NONE of the G20 countries, the biggest emitters, are reducing emissions at a pace consistent with meeting their net-zero targets. Moreover, the COP28 president, Sultan Al Jaber, who runs the Dubai Oil Company, has plans for oil production that would take hundreds of years to remove using carbon capture, a process which he favours as a climate solution.

Our Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has changed what was a good plan for emissions reduction to one that will do the opposite as a ploy to induce the public to vote for him at the next General Election. So, a political plan when what is needed is a scientific one.

So COP28 is heading in exactly the wrong direction and the future of humanity is at risk.

King Charles and Pope Francis will be undoubtedly in their presentations to COP28 - though the Pope will no longer be there in person because of illness - point out what needs to be done to prevent this, but I doubt this will be enough to prevent disaster, especially as all the major fossil fuel companies will be lobbying to get authority to carry on with their present production of oil and gas and to explore more outlets.

So, what should the public do to prevent this from occurring? Our public and the public of all the G20 countries should make it clear to their governments that such action will mean they will never vote them into power again.

Reggie Norton, a member of Green Christian, Operation Noah and Christian Climate Action lives in Hastings.

LINKS

COP28 Faith Pavilion: https://faithatcop28.com/

CAFOD on COP28: https://cafod.org.uk/campaign/latest-campaigns/cop28

Green Christian: https://greenchristian.org.uk/prayer-for-cop28-2/