Jason Hickel designs a Utopian future in his most recent article for Current Affairs What Would It Look Like If We Treated Climate Change as an Actual Emergency? He calls upon us to unite in accepting responsibility for the environment and to move forward in a radical response which will change the very nature of how we function as a global society. He explores the truths behind the Net Zero 50 meme and explains why it is necessary to make reparations to nations disproportionately impacted by climate change. It’s all laid out for us, an arduous journey, yes, but one propelled by hope that we can heal the planet and work towards a sustainable futute.
What would such a world look like? Our cynicism and fear would melt into hope and solidarity. We would feel the thrill and camaraderie of being part of something big, something transformative, something together. There would be a lot less needless commodity production, and a lot fewer bullshit jobs. Our society would be more equal, and poverty would be a thing of the past. Our economy would be organized around human needs and resilience rather than around endless capital accumulation. And most importantly, emissions would fall rapidly, year after year, in a dramatic break from the failure of the past several decades. Our planet would begin to heal.
According to Climate Action Tracker, 73% of existing “net-zero” pledges are weak and inadequate—“lip service to climate action.” What is more, a yawning gap remains between pledges, which are easy enough to make, and actual policies, which are all that really count. You can pledge all you like, but what we need is action. Right now existing government policies have us hurtling toward 2.7 degrees of heating in the coming decade. What Would It Look Like If We Treated Climate Change as an Actual Emergency?
Hickel characterises the future we are headed towards, as the global temperature are in route to rising by 3 degrees:
Calling for capping and scaling down on fossil fuel use on a “binding annual schedule,” Hickel projects the dismantlinlg of the fossil fuel industry by mid century. “That’s it. This is the only fail-safe way to stop climate breakdown. If we want real action, this should be at the very top of our agenda. Zero by 2050 is a global average target. A fair-share approach would require rich countries to eliminate most fossil fuel use by no later than 2030 or 2035, to give poorer countries more time to transition. Let that sink in.”
Hickel details the danger of the “net zero 50” strategy as ‘fudging” on the part of fossil fuel companies who claim that technology will allow them to continue emissions without increasing temperatures. “Of course, carbon removal will have to play a role, but scientists have warned, repeatedly, that it is unfeasible at scale and highly risky: if for whatever reason it fails, we will be locked into a high-temperature trajectory from which it will be impossible to escape.”
He lays out a detailed five point strategy to address climate change as an emergency, stressing the significance of The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Some highlights of the Hickel plan:
- nationalize the fossil fuel industry and the energy companies, bringing them under public control, just like any other essential service or utility.
- protect people by establishing a firm social foundation—a social guarantee. We need to guarantee universal public healthcare, housing, education, transport, water, and energy and internet, so that everyone has access to the resources they need to live well
- tax the rich out of existence. As Thomas Piketty has pointed out, cutting the purchasing power of the rich is the single most powerful way to reduce excess energy use and emissions.
- a massive public mobilization to achieve our ecological goals. We need to build our renewable energy capacity, expand public transport, insulate buildings, and regenerate ecosystems. This requires public investment, but it also requires labor.
- a strong commitment to climate reparations. Rich countries have colonized the atmosphere for their own enrichment, while inflicting the majority of the costs onto the global South. This is an act of theft—theft of the atmospheric commons on which we all rely—and it needs to be repaired
It’s a fascinating read.
China’s Role in a 1.5 World
The New York Times reports that what China does, from now to 2030, is crucial to global efforts to slow down catastrophic climate change. Apart from announcing a partnership with the United States to address climate change at the end of COP26, China did not announce any changes in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) during the Glasgow talks.
Instead, China, responsible for 27% of global emissions, remained aligned with their initial NDC, which pledges to peak its GHG emissions by 2030 and to “lower the carbon emissions intensity of its economy by 65 percent compared with 2005 levels; it would ensure that renewable energy sources make up a fourth of its energy mix; and it would increase its forest cover.”
Had China signed on to the more ambitious pledge, other developing high emitters — India, Brazil, and Indonesia — may have followed suit and joined ranks with the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Korea, and the EU Countries. In that scenario, the climate talks would have ended on a much more hopeful note.
To rally other G20 countries to put forward more ambitious targets, the High Ambition Coalition, a group of developed and progressive developing countries, carved out a critical ongoing role to hold large emitters accountable to more ambitious pledges.
New Federal Group on Climate Change Policy
The White House announced the formation of a new federal climate change policy division, which will be led by Sally Benson, a professor of energy engineering at Stanford University. A division of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the group will be tasked with “planning the transition to renewable energy and ensuring the U.S. meets its target of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” according to The Hill.
“We have a 120-year-old energy system that was built over a long time period, and we're talking about very quickly changing that to a new system,” Benson told the Post. “And this is a huge opportunity for American industry, for American workers, to lead.”
“Science and technology have done things once thought impossible: making solar energy the cheapest energy and dramatically lowering the cost of wind power and batteries,” OSTP Director Eric Lander said in a statement. “Now we need to do the same with smart grid technologies, clean hydrogen, fusion power, and more — to make carbon-neutral energy the cheapest energy, so it’s always the easy choice — by driving the virtuous cycle of invention and deployment that brings down costs.”
Actions
TELL CONGRESS: PASS THE BREAK FREE FROM PLASTICS ACT
The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021 (BFFPPA) builds on successful statewide laws across the country and outlines practical plastic reduction strategies to realize a healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable future. Tell your representatives it's time to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021 for the health and future of humans, animals, waterways, oceans, and the environment.
Stop the Money Pipeline
As we look to 2022, we know that banks are working on new climate plans. Every major US bank has now signed up to the Net Zero Banking Alliance ― and one of the criteira that banks had to agree to when joining was that they’ll release 2030 climate targets.
So far only two Wall Street banks ― JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley ― have released their 2030 climate plans. Yet they failed to do the simplest of things: stop funding fossil fuel expansion. It’s imperative that other US banks do better.
Send an email to the CEOs and top executives of Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs to make it clear: 2030 climate targets must include ending funding for the expansion of the fossil fuel industry.
The writers in Climate Brief work to keep the Daily Kos community informed and engaged with breaking news about the climate crisis around the world while providing inspiring stories of environmental heroes, opportunities for direct engagement, and perspectives on the intersection of climate activism with spirituality, politics, and the arts.