Environment Agency
The Fear
First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itselfnameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
Unfortunately, thats not one of my quotes, because its a very good one. As most of you probably know, its from the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his inaugural address in 1933, at the very height of the Great Depression when millions were forced into deprivation and were fearful of what the future would hold.
I quote FDR because his point is just as relevant today, when we confront what for many is the scariest challenge we could imagine: the climate emergency. According to numerous studies, a sizeable majority of young people now struggle with eco-anxiety and are fearful about the future due to the climate emergency.
What Im not here to do today is to tell you that everything is fine, because it isnt. But what I do want to argue is that fear is not the most useful emotion when it comes to the climate crisis because it can paralyse us into inaction; and that there is an evidence-based case for climate optimism if we do the right things.
The Fear = doomism
But first lets acknowledge that the Fear exists for good reason. We are already seeing the consequences of climate change: more extreme weather, rising sea levels, higher rainfall, bigger floods, extreme droughts, massive wildfires, ecological harm wiping out species, and rising impacts on the economy, the way we live, and the health and wellbeing of every human on this planet. This affects us all directly and indirectly. The impact is particularly hard on people in the countries of the Global South who are the least responsible for the emissions that are causing these effects but are hardest hit by them which is why the fight against climate change is also a fight for social justice.
So if youre worried about climate change, thats OK you are right to be so. And if you are angry about those who are primarily responsible for causing it or those who are denying it (often the same people), thats fine too: as John Lydon, singer of the punk band the Sex Pistols, used to say: anger is an energy.
But fear tends to exhaust us rather than energise. And what we sometimes hear from sections of the media, influencers, some well-intentioned campaigners and politicians is all focussed on The Fear. The Fear that were running out of time. The Fear that what were doing is never going to be enough. The ultimate Fear, that humanity is doomed.
In my view this climate doomism is almost as dangerous as climate denial. Indeed doomism might even be the new denial. And its equally misplaced. Its not justified by the facts. And it risks leading to the wrong outcome: inaction.
The evidence: the case for confidence
So let me give you some evidence to combat this doomism: the case for confidence.
My case for climate optimism is simple: we know what the problem is; we know what we have to do to solve it; we have started to do it; and if we keep on doing it we will succeed not just in ending the climate emergency but in building a better world too.
We know what the problem is: the massive increase in greenhouse gas emissions since the start of the industrial revolution is doing exactly what the science predicts warming the planet and making our climate more extreme.
We know what we have to do to solve this problem. The solutions are technically quite simple. First, we need to reduce and as far as possible stop entirely the emissions of carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases that are causing the climate to change: what the experts call mitigation. And second, we need to adapt our infrastructure, our economies and our lifestyles so we can live safely, sustainably and well in a climate-changed world. Because even if all greenhouse gas emissions magically stopped at midnight tonight, some climate change has already happened and will go on happening as a result of all the carbon already released into the atmosphere over the last decades.
And we are starting to do these things.
Mitigation
Let me start with mitigation. Governments around the world are taking action to reduce their national emissions, including here, where successive UK governments have shown strong leadership. The 2008 Climate Change Act was the first time a major economy set legal limits to reduce its own emissions. In 2019 the UK became the first major economy to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming by getting to Net Zero by 2050.
Just passing laws of course doesnt make it so. But we are starting to do the things we need to do to get there. Take energy generation, which has historically been one of the biggest drivers of greenhouse gas emissions. In 1991 only 2% of the UKs electricity came from renewable sources: wind, solar, hydro and bioenergy. By last year (2022), nearly half (43%) of our electricity came from those sources. And if you include nuclear energy, which accounts for a further 16% of our electricity, the majority of our power is now coming from low or no carbon sources. Which is why the National Grid say that the UK is well on its way to creating an electricity system thats wholly based on renewable and carbon-free sources by the 2050 target.
Putins war in Ukraine has inadvertently given this move to sustainable domestically-generated energy a massive push, because no-one in Europe now wants to be dependent on Russian gas.
Science and innovation are helping us too. Last month US scientists announced a breakthrough in the race to create nuclear fusion, which is a potential source of near-limitless clean energy. For the first time in an experiment they produced more energy from a fusion reaction than they put in to generate it.
Now if this is to power our world in future, it will need massive scaling up: the experiment in question lasted nanoseconds and produced just about enough energy to boil seven kettles. Building a fusion machine that can produce industrial quantities of power and run constantly is a massive technical challenge. But because it can be done, and because it will be so beneficial if it is, it almost certainly now will be done. And the UK will have a part in that: the UK government has announced that the West Burton power station site in Nottinghamshire will be the home of the UKs first prototype fusion energy plant.
Adaptation
Everyone talks about net zero, and I just have. Thats important: the lower our carbon and other emissions, the lower the extent and rate of climate change. But the other side of the climate coin adaptation to make us more resilient in a climate changed world is just as important.
And until recently adaptation has tended to be the Cinderella of climate getting less attention than mitigation. The good news is that is now starting to change.
Here in the UK more and more infrastructure providers and utilities Network Rail, National Highways, the energy providers and the water companies for example all now have programmes to adapt their own networks and operating arrangements to make them more resilient to the impacts of the changing climate.
Meanwhile internationally we saw a major step forward on adaptation at COP27, the UN climate change summit in Egypt last month. This was the agreement on a new Loss and Damage Fund that will help nations most impacted by climate change cope with the damage that has happened already and adapt to be more resilient in future.
This wont fix any of those problems immediately. It will only mean anything if its actually delivered, and you can argue about how much money is needed to get the job done. But the agreement matters in itself, because it signals that the rich nations recognise that they have a particular responsibility to the rest of the world and that they need to show solidarity with the developing nations and back their rhetoric with resources. And that matters because the rebuilding of trust between rich and poor countries that this agreement can help achieve will make it much more likely that we sustain the collective international commitment we need to tackle the climate emergency successfully.
The Environment Agency is a major player on climate
The Environment Agency which I lead is playing a central part in tackling the climate emergency. We have put it at the heart of everything we do.
Our strategy, EA 2025, which drives all our work, has three goals: a nation resilient to climate change; healthy air, land and water; and green growth and a sustainable future. The common theme that runs through them all is the climate emergency. Tackle it successfully, and we will achieve all those goals. Fail and we will fail on all.
The EA plays a major role in mitigation. We regulate most of the greenhouse gas emitters in this country, and have cut emissions from the sites we regulate by 50% since 2010. We run the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, which limits and will progressively reduce the emissions that airlines, steel works and other major sources of carbon are allowed to make.
We are trying to walk the walk ourselves with our commitment to make the Environment Agency and the whole of our supply chain Net Zero by 2030. That has meant we are rethinking much of what we do for example using hydrogen vehicles to move around, low carbon concrete or better still natural flood management (tree planting etc) for flood defences. We are even using our own pension fund to influence investors to put t