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Chapter 1

It’s Not Just Climate Change

INTRODUCTION

Concern about climate change is at an all-time high: According to a 2022 survey, 77% of people worldwide are worried about climate change, with 71% believing that we need to take faster action to address this critical issue. Meanwhile, 57% of people think that there has been little to no progress made to address the climate crisis.1 Despite growing concern, there is a significant action gap between what scientists say needs to be done to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, and what governments, industry and the public are actually doing.2 How can we truly say whether climate advocacy is successful? 

The discrepancy between awareness and action can be attributed to the way we communicate. The way we talk about climate change — as scientists, citizens, businesses, and campaigners — greatly influences public perception of the issue and its potential solutions. Despite knowing about the science of climate change for decades, countries worldwide still struggle to make the systemic changes needed to reach safe and just climate targets.

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Celandine
1

It’s Not Just Climate Change

The world has warmed by about 1.3 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, with the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment report painting an urgent picture which was widely reported as “code red for humanity”: It is now unequivocal that human influence has caused widespread and rapid changes to the planet, affecting weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Unless deep reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions occur soon, global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century.
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2

It’s All Connected: People and the Planet

The climate crisis is often described as the biggest threat facing humanity — but rather than an isolated issue, climate change amplifies and is exacerbated by other global threats. Recent years have seen a return of ‘older’ risks such as inflation, a cost-of-living crisis and the threat of nuclear warfare following COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war. These threats are amplified and potentially multiplied by the emerging risks of climate change impacts, biodiversity loss, and a shrinking window for climate policies that put us on track for the 1.5°C Paris target.

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3

Entering Uncharted Territory

When the IPCC’s special report on 1.5ºC was released in 2018, it presented a concept called carbon budget — a set amount of additional greenhouse gas emissions that could be added to the atmosphere while still limiting the Earth’s warming to the recommended 1.5ºC increase. The idea of a carbon budget is key — for ​​the atmosphere, the annual rate of emissions doesn’t matter.

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