When we hear about Climate Change it’s often as part of a doomsday narrative.
This approach echoed by modern movements, including youth activist Greta Thunburg’s ‘Strike4Climate.’
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing,” she said during her 2019 speech to the United Nations.
Climate Change Communication fellow Gabi Mocatta reveals optimism is at a 20-year high.
“We feel that there are lots of reasons now. We are starting towards being at a tipping point towards taking action. This isn’t new research. This is off the back of the developments we’ve seen in Biden’s climate conference,” she told Ticker News Live.
US President Joe Biden gathered 40 world leaders in a virtual summit to push nations towards doing more. It came at a time of policy shift for America on the back of the new administration recommitting to the Paris Agreement target of reducing global warming from exceeding 2℃.
“It’s not something in the future, it’s something that’s here right now”
The US committed to a 50% cut in greenhouse gas emissions reduction on 2005 levels by 2030. The European Union pledged a 55% cut by 2030 on 1990 levels. The UK promised a 78% reduction by 2035.
“We’ve been seeing the effects of climate change. The conversation linking disasters with climate change is now being had. People are seeing there’s a movement and there is understanding that climate change is a real thing,” she said.
“Business is on board. Business understands”
It comes as business leaders start leading the charge. The ‘Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures’, established by international financial monitor FSB, is now considering climate change mitigation vital to corporations’ due care and diligence.
“Business is doing that. Business understands that there is only one way to move on this and that’s towards a decarbonised economy,” she said.
Mocatta says while momentum is building, there’s still a lot of work to be done on the global stage.
“We need countries to take it very seriously in the next decade. We need changes to economies in developed countries. New funding in renewable energy. People will have to accept some changes to their lifestyle,” she said.
She says the 2020s are our final chance to act according to science and it’s important nations follow through with their promises.