The FT Editorial Board has a problem with those who pretend to solve climate change. Who might they have in mind?
“The depressing reality about climate change is that we could solve the problem, at manageable cost, but are failing to do so.” So the Financial Times Editorial Board concluded on 26th December. “This failure is due to a mixture of blindness and self-deception. The blindness comes from those, such as US president Donald Trump, who deny the reality of climate change. The self-deception comes from those who accept the reality, but only pretend to solve it.”
Being diplomatic, the Board does not elaborate on those who are guilty of self deception and pretence. Let me offer a few examples for them.
I view this as rather more than a self-imposed academic exercise. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres spoke for many when he said, at the annual climate summit earlier this month, that those who do not wish to accelerate the decarbonisation goal of the Paris Agreement – knowing what climate scientists tell us of the dangers – are guilty of “immoral” and “suicidal” behaviour. Those with the most to lose, the young, spoke with anguished voices at that summit of a clear and present danger to the civilisation they hope to live in. Among the oldsters who see the stakes no differently, David Attenborough was an interesting new voice.
Anyone who has dipped into my compilations of the history will appreciate that I do not consider myself short of choice when it comes to those who are pretending when it comes to climate action. Let me limit myself to the pages of the FT this year, in the interests of brevity.
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