The Most Powerful Climate Lie

In the wake of the IPCC’s stark deadline of a dozen years to pull back from the brink of climate catastrophe, it is time for immediate action. This action begins with challenging the most destructive and pervasive lie about climate change: that it’s all on us.

This month the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) released their assessment of the consequences of a 1.5 degree rise in the Earth’s temperature since pre-industrial times, and a 2 degree rise. The latter, the agreed limit set by the Paris Agreement three years ago, is now known to be a drastic overestimate. Half a degree rise from the 1.5 degree threshold means an unprecedented risk to the world’s most vulnerable people. On our current trajectory, we are set to surpass this by 2030. These climate prospects, while bleak, are possibly avoidable. The requirement for this is, simply, “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” thereby halving cumulative carbon emissions within the next twelve years. Given the context of this call for immediate response by the world’s leading climate scientists, it is time to revisit our climate narrative. 

Media focus on our guilt-ridden, complacent lifestyle choices – from the meat industry, to driving, to having more than one child – willfully play into the hands of those who possess the real monopoly on our climate. The fact that two thirds of all man-made global warming emissions have been traced back to 90 companies, highlights just how out of sync our focus on the individual is. Carbon emissions are still climbing. The answer, so we are told, lies in the individual. If we all change our habits for the better we can fix the problem. The problem with this is that “we”, the individuals, the hegemonic voices of mainstream environmentalism, aren’t everyone. In the global context, “we” are the ones with the money, and the ones doing the most harm. It is no coincidence that the richest 10% are responsible for more than half the world’s fossil fuel emissions, situated where the scale of climate impact is smaller. In the global context, considering the geographically unequal effects of climate change, it is the effectivity of the richest nations that determines the safety of the environments projected to be hit worst. Domestically, the hegemonic focus on ethical consumerism as a means of mitigating climate change – from organic produce to electric cars – is only feasible for the affluent. The economic exclusivity of current environmental solutions means that individual actions cannot make the decisive difference needed to tackle carbon emissions, it is going to take greater social movements – starting at the source. 

As of now, fossil industries are being allowed to continue to quietly and diligently profiteer from pushing us closer to the 1.5 degree threshold, all the while, fielding no accountability for the environmental damages they are inflicting globally. They are also in no plan to stop soon. To have hope of staying below a two-degree increase, scientists estimate we can pour roughly 565 more gigatons of CO2 into the atmosphere by 2050. Most scarily, according to the Carbon Tracker Initiative, the carbon (in proven coal, oil and gas reserves) that fossil fuel companies intend to release is five times that amount – 2795 gigatons. According to the same report, is Exxon burns its current reserves it would bring us 7% closer to the 2-degree point. As of now, fossil fuel lobbying and corporate donations puppeteering democracy have blocked most attempts to limit their impact. All the while the burdening the state with the massive task of paying for climate-ready infrastructure and picking up the pieces after the ever-increasing number of “natural” disasters. 

Media narratives of climate blame are too focused on individual responsibility. This is, at best, a misplaced response for the immediacy that mitigation requires, at worst, a tool used by industries that are working to render those efforts insignificant. The steady and slow dismantling of the fossil fuel industry in response to shifts in consumer demand is not going to cut it on our updated climate timeline. The most immediate way to halt climate change is to hit those who are profiteering from the destruction of the planet where it really hurts – in the wallet. This will take unprecedented social action put financial pressure on oil and gas companies through divestment campaigns, corporate accountability efforts and targeting banks and financial institutions. On top of this, massive social political movements are necessary to regulate corporations, to take back transport, utilities and energy grids back into public control, and to raise taxes to fund massive investment in climate-ready infrastructure and renewable energy. Only in these economic systems will individuals really count – when environmental choices are for everyone, not just the affluent.