Climate Inaction is Criminally Insane

In the face of food shortages, brought on by persistent drought, Zimbabwe has ordered culling of 200 elephants – most majestic animals in African savannahs – to provide meat to its starving masses. In Namibia, more than 700 wild animals, including hippos and elephants, are being culled for the same purpose. Many countries are facing worst droughts and floods in decades in Africa. Worsening weather patterns, amid social and political instability, are triggering mass migration to other countries and the neighbouring Europe. Refugee issue is emerging the biggest crisis in European Union this year.

Against this backdrop, the just concluded United Nations conference was a big letdown for those hoping for an urgent global action to stop wars and environmental deterioration. Why blame it, anyway? An organisation is only as good as its constituents i.e., governments in this respect. Even as scientific evidence is mounting and experts the world over unequivocal about it – that climate change (long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns) has become a dangerous threat to the health of the planet – no urgency is seen in global action.

This inaction by governments is fast closing the window to secure a livable future for all. Why are the governments so dismissive of the impending danger? No region of the earth would be safe in future. This inaction is criminally insane. The governments cannot be blind to the climate change wreaking havoc on lives and livelihoods and causing displacement of communities. In a few decades, should the spree of destruction and deterioration of environment persist at the current pace, it will be difficult to imagine which region would be safe a scorned nature.

While experts, as also discerning public, are waiting with bated breath for any sense of earnestness to save environment from human greed and misuse, the governments are spending their ‘Carbon Budgets’ – with gay abandon, so it seems. Simply put, a carbon budget is a concept that refers to the set of emissions reduction targets laid down for governments to ensure responsible living in deference to the nature. Cumulatively, the ‘Carbon Budget’ can mean the maximum amount of cumulative net global anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that would result in limiting global warming to a given level. For the unversed, it is the total amount of CO2 that can be emitted while keeping global warming to a certain level. Indiscriminate burning of fossil fuels is main reason for greenhouse gases to accumulate and prevent sun heat from escaping back to the space.

Carbon Budgets offer a way to benchmark the progress of governments in meeting their climate goals. They help monitor progress in reaching net-zero emissions i.e., a situation wherein there is an equal balance between the carbon released into the atmosphere and the amount removed and stored by carbon sinks from the atmosphere.

The combined inaction of the nations to adhere to their set targets i.e., carbon budgets led to 2023 turning the warmest year in the 174-year observational record. The planet turned 0.60°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average and 1.48°C warmer than the 1850-1900 pre-industrial level (global atmospheric conditions before industrialisation). At a time when the governments are splurging around $2.6 trillion a year on subsidies for use of fossil fuels, it is sad that there is no widespread concern among people about why global temperatures matter and what their causes are. They must open their eyes to nature’s havoc. Climate activism is needed more than ever to bring about behavioural changes, and mount pressure on governments and private sector for collective action to cut fossil fuels emissions.