It's now or never.

"It's now or never" to limit the worst of climate change according to today's report from the IPCC (a bunch of leading climate scientists) but also for me to write my first blog. I chose today because I took part in a Climate Fresk workshop today and part of my “Action plan” was to talk to someone about Climate Change - so here I am, putting pen to paper or rather fingers to screen.

Now, the latest IPCC report builds on those previous. Collectively, they paint a grim picture but show there is still time to act. The expert scientists call for “immediate and deep emission reduction across all sectors”. They point to the urgent need in particular to phase out fossil fuels.

In the midst of a cost of living crisis in the UK, spurred by record energy prices pushing inflation at levels not seen for decades and the war in Ukraine prompting governments (European in particular) to reassess energy security - there is a further incentive to invest and urgently ramp up domestic renewable energy production.

The challenge is that renewable energy projects will take years to deliver on a scale that matters to reduce fossil fuels dramatically. Eventually they will provide secure supplies (intermittency aside) of low(er) cost energy but that doesn’t help people that are struggling today with spiralling prices or a government desperate for a good news story, having to balance the economic costs of COVID.

The solutions to our de-carbonisation challenges?require long term solutions and difficult unpopular decisions (e.g onshore wind turbines which according to UK Cabinet Minister, Grant Shapps “create somewhat of an eyesore”). Well - the climate change related bleaching of coral reefs in Australia, the droughts in Africa or scorched land from US wildfires? None of these are a sight for sore eyes either.

Today's Climate Fresk workshop, reinforced to me how our policymakers are intrinsically focused on the short term and so far have lacked the political will to take forward the comprehensive policies to address the interconnected forces accelerating climate change. The next opinion poll, the next election get in the way. The long term solutions we need are mostly quite unpopular and expensive in the short term.

That said, the UK government are due to publish an energy strategy this week. Let’s see how that aligns with the IPCC’s report and the need for urgent action.

Until next time.