Irish Examiner view: IPCC report gives us even more reasons to take action

It's grim news but the UN's message is encouraging in that it shows we can make positive choices now

The UN report released on Monday makes for grim reading — the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found the world is now likely to surpass its most ambitious climate target, which sought to limit warming to 1.5C above preindustrial temperatures, by the early 2030s.

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No one can now credibly claim ignorance of this problem, the very definition of an existential threat. The crackpot climate change deniers, or the paid shills of various implicated industries, are long since discredited, if not disgraced, as the entire world is forced to face this challenge. We moved beyond the realm of frightening possibilities long ago; are we now at the stage of looking at terrifying probabilities?

UN offers a way forward

For all the bad news, the UN itself is offering a way forward, advocating strongly for measures such as access to clean energy and low-carbon electrification, for the promotion of zero- and low-carbon transport. 

The organisation has gone as far as to suggest that the economic benefits to people’s health from air quality improvements alone would be roughly the same as, or possibly larger than, the costs of reducing or avoiding emissions.

This is encouraging because it shows that we have choices we can make — and the importance of making the right choices. It is now one hundred years, for instance, since the fateful decision was made to introduce lead into petrol to improve engine performance, with disastrous environmental consequences.

(In a grim one-two punch, the same man who pioneered leaded petrol, one Thomas Midgley, also played a leading role in the commercial use of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which have caused havoc with the ozone layer.)

While that is an anniversary worth remembering, if not celebrating, we should focus on what we can achieve now rather than bemoaning decisions made decades ago. We are living with the consequences of the choices made then, but we still have the freedom to make better choices now.

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