Green Fortnight runs each year at UWE – “our annual festival of eco ideas, events and smart living”. With my wonderful colleague Associate Professor Daniela Paddeu in the Chair for a joint University of the West of England and Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) webinar on climate action, this was my opportunity to share my thoughts as a concerned fellow human. I’ve given this presentation in slightly different forms a few times this year to different audiences. And that’s the thing about climate change and climate action – you can’t just address it once or twice, it’s something that must continuously be the focus of our attention for the foreseeable future. Things bear repeating, repeatedly.

The YouTube recording shows the introduction and presentation itself but for reasons of data protection, the follow-up conversation with the audience is not included. Nevertheless, you get to watch how the audience responds to a series of Menti questions, giving a sense of the mood in the room.

This is pre-COP28 – the event took place on 7 November. That said, the presentation includes a quote at the start of November from the COP President: “We need solid solutions for a 43% cut in emissions by 2030, because that is exactly what the science is telling us”. Once COP arrived, another remark he made became wide quoted. According to the Guardian “The president of Cop28, Sultan Al Jaber, has claimed there is “no science” indicating that a phase-out of fossil fuels is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5C, the Guardian and the Centre for Climate Reporting can reveal”. The Guardian reported that his company “plans to increase capacity by 600,000 barrels [of oil] a day by 2030”. At COP 28, the Sultan has suggested that this amounts to us listening to Western media.

So who to believe or is it a matter of smoke and mirrors? It seems convenient to be able to argue that decarbonisation is not synonymous with phasing out of fossil fuels. Somehow in a magical world it becomes possible to rely upon ‘clever technology’ and tree planting to seemingly counter the significant contribution that fossil fuels are making to our predicament.

My granddaughter Maple will only be 27 by the time 2050 arrives. I may be gone but she will be living the reality of the decisions being made today by the grown ups – and she will still only be a young woman. What sort of world will she confront when she is 77 at the turn of the century?

#climateaction#COP28