New Scientist - USA (2019-11-30)

30 November 2019 | New Scientist | 23

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REXIT, Brexit, Brexit.
UK politics has been
dominated by little else
since the country’s 2016 vote
to leave the European Union.
The upcoming general election
on 12 December may finally break
the impasse, but a far bigger
issue overshadows this vote:
climate change.
Environmental issues have
risen up the UK’s political agenda
recently, buoyed by concern about
plastics in the ocean and publicity
surrounding climate protests
by Extinction Rebellion and
Greta Thunberg’s school strikes.
A continuing spate of extreme
weather events, most recently
record-breaking rainfall and
flooding in parts of central and
northern England, has brought
the practical implications of a
changing climate to the fore of
many people’s minds.
In a recent Ipsos Mori poll,
more than 20 per cent of
respondents named the
environment and pollution as a
concern unprompted. That is up
from just 2 per cent in 2012, and is
beaten only by Brexit, crime and
the National Health Service.
The next UK government will
have a huge opportunity to display
international leadership on the
climate, as the COP26 UN climate
summit is due to be held in
Glasgow in November 2020.
There, nations will take stock of
the 2015 Paris climate agreement,
and commit to ratcheting up
efforts to reach net-zero
JOSgreenhouse gas emissions.

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Comment

Jacob Aron is New Scientist’s

deputy news editor @jjaron

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In 2018, the Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

said that emissions will need to

fall 45 per cent from 2010 levels

by 2030, reaching net zero in 2050,

to limit global warming to a “safe”

level of 1.5°C. Inaccurately reported

as “we only have 12 years to save

the planet”, the 2030 goal is still

vitally important. The 2050 target

is a legal requirement in the UK.

Assuming no more early

elections – a slightly risky

assumption, perhaps, given the

febrile state of UK politics at the

minute – the politicians taking

office in a few weeks’ time will

still be in charge in 2024. That is

a crucial time frame if the UK is

to meet the IPCC’s 2030 goal.

That we should aim to hit that

goal is a matter of global duty and

naked self-interest, as it is for all

developed economies. The UK

was one of the first nations to

industrialise and is responsible for

a disproportionate amount of the

emissions that have got us into

this mess. Rich nations like the UK

can provoke a trickle-down effect

by lowering the cost of green tech,

making it accessible to the rest of

the world. We have already seen

this with solar and wind farms.

This isn’t about telling anybody

who to vote for: the complex,

multi-party nature of this election

and the perverse effects of the

voting system makes any general

advice pointless. But it is worth

taking the time to inform

ourselves what each of the parties

says about climate change before

putting a cross on the ballot paper.

New Scientist aims to play its part:

with my colleagues in our news

department, I am currently

working on a detailed analysis of

the various UK political parties’

climate policies, to appear in the

next issue.

As the world warms and sea

levels rise, who do you want to be

in charge? Who is going to tackle

the biggest problem of our age,

and who is going to set us on the

right path to 2030? Brexit may

seem important now, but looking

to the future there are no bigger

questions to answer than these. ❚

Vote with climate in mind

One issue is dominating the UK general election – but for those

who care about the future, it’s not the right one, says Jacob Aron