The UNFCCC announcement today is a clear sign – it is time to admit that world leaders are failing to ensure a safe planet.[1] 

In a week when we have heard from David Attenborough [2] and Boris Johnson [3] about the security risks of the climate crisis and the heightened possibility of war, there is no longer any argument that we urgently need change on an unprecedented scale. Yet the best world leaders have come up with are meagre pledges that get us nowhere near where we need to be. 

Imagine you are a young person and government representatives in your country just handed you the UNFCCC report. Would it read like a child abuse case? How must they feel?

Maybe it’s time our politicians took a political version of the Hippocratic Oath? What would the world look like if politicians were bound to do no harm?

This year will frame the decade, that will frame the century, that will therefore decide the fate of life on earth. It’s time to stop clinging to the ‘business as usual’ model for change and accept that this way forward can only result in failure. 

If our world leaders are not capable of thinking big enough for the scale of this crisis, then it’s time to listen to the people across the world, brought together through a global citizens’ assembly, to find a fair and just way forward. 

Notes to editors

[1] UNFCCCC report: https://unfccc.int/news/climate-commitments-not-on-track-to-meet-paris-agreement-goals-as-ndc-synthesis-report-is-published

[2]  World risks ‘collapse of everything’ without strong climate action, Attenborough warns Security Council: https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/02/1085452

https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/02/1085452

[3] Climate change is a threat to our security – Boris Johnson: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56158437

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56158437