The danger to life on earth as climate change reaches a point of no return, is highlighted in a report by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) in 2018. The report by the earth’s climate scientists concludes that the 2 degree rise in temperature above pre-industrial levels as the maximum beyond which climate change could not be reversed, is out of date and should be replaced by a target of 1.5 degrees. It warns that humanity has just 12 years left to avoid the tipping point of irreversible climate change. There has been a revolt by the younger generation against the older generation, which has failed to implement the measures recommended by the international body of scientists on climate change. This revolt led by a young Swedish teenager, Greta Thunberg and known as the Extinction Rebellion, has spread rapidly among the youth throughout the world. It reached a new high point towards the end of September when for the first time it called on adults to join the struggle. Trade unions representing hundreds of millions of workers mobilised their members to support this struggle. There were demonstrations in 185 countries with a powerful message to support the measures to combat climate change
The IPCC, a year after its warning on the climate emergency, concludes that many serious impacts are already inevitable; from more intense storms to melting permafrost and dwindling marine life (The Guardian 20th September 2019). It predicts far worse impacts will occur without urgent action to cut fossil fuel emissions, including an eventual sea level rise of more than 4 metres in the worst case. Sea level rise is accelerating as losses from Greenland and Antarctica increase. Even if the temperature rise is restricted to just 2 degrees C, scientists expect the sea level elevation to impact on half the world’s megacities and almost 2 billion people living on coasts. This will result in many millions of migrants and cause several trillion dollars of damage a year. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris and chair of the C40 Cities climate coalition drew attention to what is happening now. She said “Several cities, home to hundreds of thousands of people are already disappearing underwater. This is what the climate crisis looks like now.” One million plant and animal species are on the brink of extinction according to a UN report (quoted by Friends of the Earth)
As humanity faces up to the dire consequences of climate change, there are disturbing reports of the activities of the 50 biggest oil companies scrambling to flood markets with an additional 7 million barrels a day over the next decade (The Guardian, 13th October). This acceleration runs counter to the 45 % reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 that scientists say is necessary to have any chance of holding the rise of temperature at a relatively safe level of 1.5 degrees. The big oil companies such as Shell and Exxon Mobil, acting against government promises, scientific alarms and a growing public outcry are pumping more fossil fuels and profits from the ground. What is required is renewable energy such as solar power, not the burning of fossil fuels. The US is at the centre of the oil boom with over four times more new production than the next country, Canada, over the next 10 years.
Enormous drilling projects are planned or underway from Argentina to Siberia. Lorna Stockman, an analyst involved in monitoring oil companies declared ” Rather than planning an orderly decline in production, they are doubling down and acting like there is no climate crisis. This presents us with a simple choice: shut them down or face extreme climate disruption.” The output of the international companies will be dwarfed by the output of state-run national firms. The biggest, Saudi Aramco plans to produce oil and gas equivalent to 27 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide. The top investment banks, such as J.P. Morgan and Bank of America, instead of financing renewable energy production, have provided $ 700 billion to expand fossil fuel production since the Paris climate pact.
Excerpts from a statement by the Fourth International, (International Viewpoint, November 2010) have this to say “If the rich destroy the planet (the richest of the richest countries can emit up to 2000 times more greenhouse gases than the poorest of the poorest countries), it is the working classes, the peoples of the South, the racialised people and women, who suffer most from climate disasters, who live in the most polluted areas, who suffer from the lack of drinking water and the degradation of agricultural land. The Green Fund promised since 2010 to finance the transition and adaptation of the countries of the South, is still awaited.”
In London, Extinction Rebellion is involved in a campaign, which places the struggle against the inaction of governments on the climate emergency on a higher plateau. It has three demands: the government must declare a state of emergency, it must legally commit to reducing carbon emissions to net zero by 2025 and a citizens assembly must be formed to “oversee the changes”. The resistance of the peoples of the South to the pollution of the environment by fossil fuels will strengthen the worldwide movement facing up to the climate challenge.