It is against a background of serious climate change that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its new forecasts on Monday, August 9: catastrophic floods in China, Germany, Belgium, uncontrollable fires in Greece, in Turkey, heat dome and impressive fires in Canada, etc.
In November, Cop 26 will meet in Glasgow, Scotland. The whole challenge, for climate experts, is to make national and international political leaders understand that it is no longer possible to procrastinate: the threshold of a global warming of + 1.5 ° C, which the Paris agreement aimed not to exceed, should be reached around 2030! Alert, therefore, while being careful not to sow panic, which would further complicate the situation when we will finally have to take the bull by the horns.
“Irreversible” consequences
In June, to influence Cop 26, the IPCC gave a first idea of its future assessment of the impacts of climate change already underway (the final document is expected for February 2022). It is already a question of “Serious consequences for centuries”, see “Irreversible”, if the limit of + 1.5 ° C is exceeded. “The current levels of adaptation will be insufficient to respond to future climate risks, the climate experts announced. Life on Earth can recover from major climate change by evolving into new species and creating new ecosystems […]. Humanity cannot. “
For the politicians who will meet in Glasgow, against a backdrop of a health crisis that is still not under control, the climate issue has everything squared the circle. How to combine “divergent” priorities: that of the measures to be taken to contain global warming – and to limit the collapse of biodiversity – and that of preserving economic activity from the consequences of the Covid, by regaining growth?
Humanity capable of a start?
Finding the answer to this question is all the more difficult as power struggles have taken precedence over multilateralism. Donald Trump spent four years defeating him, and he wasn’t the only one. The leaven of every man for himself is fermenting in all public opinion, even within Europe itself.
In these conditions, one will say, why make efforts, with us, if others, with them, do not play the game? Making difficult decisions is all the more complicated and perilous since there is a gap of a few years between what is done (or not), for good or bad, and what results from it (without being absolutely sure). The current disturbances were announced by climate experts. We hardly believed them. However, they are happening faster than expected, and seem to be “snowballing”. Will humanity be capable of a start? The current mistrust of public opinion encourages doubts!
Another sign of our weak planetary mobilization to preserve the future: on July 29, humanity spent for the year 2021 all the resources that the Earth can regenerate in one year, announced the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF ). The Covid effect, observed in 2020, is therefore erased! And the headlong rush continues. Children born this year in France can hope to live until 2100. By then, what will the planet have become if we do not manage to come to an agreement to preserve our common future?
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