It's off the charts. All evidence points to an acceleration of the planet’s record-breaking heat. So the blame game begins, as the COP 28 summit opens in the oil and gas-rich United Arab Emirates, between those who provide fossil fuels, those who consume them and those in the front lines of desertification and rising sea levels. Before even contemplating binding targets, will the final communique even include a pledge to phase out hydrocarbons?
Beyond tired scapegoating arguments, there’s a more important question: how shortsighted is humanity? Will we all perish tomorrow morning? No. But we will have to pay our food and energy bills. In Germany, cost is why there’s a backlash against policies aimed at phasing out gas boilers, why a quickly-scrapped carbon tax sparked France’s Yellow Vests movement, why naval-dependent Greece is leading the charge against a shipping tax.
Which brings us back to the UN climate summit in Dubai. In an era when our Instagram feeds encourage us to buy more, to strive for the jet set life, in an era where nationalism trumps global treaties, can humanity find the common ground necessary to ensure its own survival?
Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Guillaume Gougeon and Louise Guibert.
