Social tipping points: slouching toward climate salvation By Marlowe HOOD
Paris (AFP) March 2, 2021
SNIPPET:
Climate action cheerleaders are past masters at stringing together whatever signs of progress are at hand to conjure a glass half full, so good news laundry lists must be viewed skeptically.
There are arguably just as many reasons for pessimism.
Last week UN chief Antonio Guterres noted that -- net-zero promises notwithstanding -- "governments are nowhere close to the level of ambition needed to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement."
The 2015 treaty calls for capping global warming at "well below" 2C compared to preindustrial levels, and the world is currently on track for double that.
On Tuesday, the International Energy Agency reported that global CO2 emissions have returned to pre-pandemic levels, and then some.
But in all sectors -- energy, industry, geopolitics, finance, public opinion -- a flurry of activity has experts wondering whether the world is, at long last, turning the corner on climate.
"Is the pendulum swinging hard in the right direction? Absolutely," said Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at New York University.
Full article:
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Social_tipping_points_slouching_toward_climate_salvation_999.html