The UK must have a coherent strategy on emissions if it is to provide leadership at the Cop26 summit
The language of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report on global warming last week was unusual for its uncompromising candour. As its authors made vividly clear, the world can no longer seek solace in the expectation that it can continue the unrestricted burning of gas, coal and oil without triggering devastation. Widespread flooding, severe droughts, rising sea levels, melting ice caps, coral reef destruction, heatwaves and forest fires will surely intensify unless we change our ways, the report’s authors emphasised.
The message is clear. Humanity must break its fossil fuel dependence in short order and every nation will have to play a part in bringing a speedy halt to that addiction, though the burden facing the United Kingdom is a particularly severe one. For a start, we have been burning fossil fuel, mainly coal, on a large scale for longer than any other nation. The Industrial Revolution was born in Britain, after all. Thus, we have a special duty to be in the vanguard of nations doing the most to counter the unpleasant impacts that greenhouse gases are already having on our world.
