Real Next Steps: The Need to Develop a Sustainability Framework
How do we create engagement when the threat is still not obvious to everyone?
Note: The speed of British political life at the moment means things changed within a days of this being written. The core themes remain valid though so please do read and engage all the same.
Three weeks ago, then-PM Liz Truss reversed the UK’s ban on fracking in response to the country’s energy security crisis. And whilst she “told” the King he ought not to go to the COP27 Summit, she herself did plan on attending next month. Fast forward three weeks, the fracking ban’s back on. However, not only is the new Prime Minister not planning on attending COP27, but he has appointed an environment secretary who has regularly voted against measures to tackle climate change. Furthermore, the climate action space is so fast moving that there may even been further major U-turns by the time this article is published.
Commercial companies, who are equally, if not more important, than the government in tackling climate issues, thrive on stability and the ability to make plans and agendas. The above, which is frankly chaos, undermines the ability for any such planning.
Trying to justify Rishi Sunak not attending COP27, Therese Coffey stated that the PM needed to be focusing on the “depressing domestic struggles”. Whilst anyone living in the UK is very aware, either directly or second hand, about the huge challenges the nation currently faces — some similar to the rest of the world, some uniquely British — without a doubt this is a situation that requires an “and” approach, not thrown aside with an “or” passivity. Ensuring the population has heat, food and healthcare in the coming months must be a priority for any government; but putting in place the steps required to tackle the climate crisis cannot be left until it is a more visible danger. By that point, it’ll be too late.
For the first time in humankind’s history — other than the risk from nuclear weapons — this is a situation where we win or lose as an entirety. Over the last 40,000 years in most situations, whether it was wars, revolutions or elections, one group would always come out as victorious. Failing to tackle climate change will impact us all — we will all be on the losing side. The only difference will be how rapidly our lives are changed. It isn’t a question of if, but of when, and eventually we will all be victims.
As individuals and companies increasingly realise this, they have a desire to act. However, the scale of what’s required means we need guidance and a framework within which to operate. This, realistically, can only really be defined by governments. This is why the UK’s flip-flopping and apparent lack of urgency is detrimental: the direct steps they could be taking are not being taken, but also the lack of structure, guidance and leadership delays actions by individuals, corporations, and other countries.
The effects may not felt by everybody, however they are real. For the people in Pakistan, where a third of homes are now underwater, the effects are real. For the swathes of sub-Saharan Africa where entire herds are dying from droughts, the effects are real. Or for the billion people who are now realising they cannot physically work outside during the mid-day sun, the effects are very real and very destructive.
However, it is important not to make the situation sound too negative. It is a well known fact that if things feel too hopeless, people can just give up. Treading the fine line between despondency and apathy in order to gain peoples’ attention is tricky game, and then, as is increasingly necessary, having them make sacrifices is just as hard. The government is very aware of this; people are already having to make very unpalatable decisions given the economic crisis, so they need to tread carefully in sign-posting the extent of further trade-offs that we will need to make.
15 or so years ago, as David Cameron was building towards becoming Prime Minister, he pushed the concept of Big Society, encouraging people to come together to build stronger communities and focus on the impact they have on others in order to benefit everyone in society. Ultimately, this did not succeed in gaining traction during a tricky period of austerity, but it was able to open peoples’ eyes to the logic of more community-led change.
Given the increasing belief that we each have a role to play around climate change, is there an opportunity to make this bigger than politics, and engage the power, energy, and determination of all citizens, especially those who will be still living at the end of this century, to define and promulgate the framework we so desperately need.
