22 April was Earth Day – so what big news has broken since? Let’s take a look to Scotland, China and the USA. One saddens me, one inspires me, and one defies emotion.

We can all relate to the often unbridgeable ‘policy-action gap’ but without having in place a bold policy position in the first place, scope for action can be diminished.

I recall my time on secondment to the New Zealand Ministry of Transport as Strategy Director with a brief to examine future uncertainty surrounding the demand for car travel. This came at a time when several countries around the world had been experiencing a phenomenon that Phil Goodwin called ‘Peak Car’ – car traffic growth had flatlined for a ten year period. As part of the work at MoT, Phil and I produced a report we called ‘Grow, peak or plateau – the outlook for car travel’. To draw upon another insight from Phil, car use changes and can be changed. Predicting and providing for car traffic is one approach. Deciding and providing to shape the future is another.

I was delighted when the Scottish Government announced its goal of reducing total car kms by 20% by 2030 against pre-pandemic levels. Around it clustered comparable intentions from Wales, New Zealand and Ireland (as well as city-level ambitions to reduce levels of car traffic).

Since then, the political pendulum has swung in NZ. And what a shame to read yesterday the headline ‘Scottish government drops target to cut car use by 20%’.

It has certainly been a challenging target and the end of the decade is fast approaching. Indeed there are many authorities who have declared climate emergencies with bold end of decade ambitions that will soon be coming home to roost. However, addressing climate change is challenging and to duck the issue (or still claim human activity has little to do with it) will ultimately prove to be a fools errand.

Is there hope to counter this news? Cue news from the United Nations and the USA.

Yesterday a UN virtual summit took place ahead of COP30. The big news was an announcement from China’s President Xi Jinping that that China’s updated commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change would cover all economic sectors and all greenhouse gases. He remarked that “The more turbulent and chaotic the international situation is, the more solidly must we uphold the international system with the United Nations at its heart”.

Meanwhile on Earth Day itself the White House put out an article with an eye-catching headline: ‘On Earth Day, We Finally Have a President Who Follows Science’. The article points to key actions the President is taking on the environment, including:

promoting energy innovation for a healthier future
championing sound forest management
ending the forced use of paper straws
cutting wasteful regulations
protecting public lands
cracking down on China
protecting wildlife

Gosh. Almost leaves me wondering whether I should have bought a Tesla instead of my electric vehicle made in China.