Resetting the clock on climate change

It is a sobering thought that the dip in carbon dioxide emissions last year, falling up to 17% due to the pandemic, meant the world was back to 2006 levels for the year. In 2006, Sir Nicholas Stern's prophetic report for the UK government advised that if we acted then crisis could be averted and to delay would cost more. Sir Nicholas's words were largely ignored, as humanity dashed on like lemmings approaching the cliff edge. The political class began to stir, resulting in the Paris agreement in 2015. But as Greta Thurnberg points out, they have then failed to deliver on those Paris promises. Time is running out. Covid has shown what a crisis really looks like and the mobilisation needed to counter it, The climate crisis is looming. The Covid pandemic offers an opportunity to take stock and reset the clock. Part of that process must involve fundamentally changing the way in which we live, not carrying on as before lurching ever closer to that precipice. Published - 27/4/2021 - Independent