I HAVE mixed feelings about our future. Emissions have grown too fast, and their impacts on the climate system have been severe. And I’ve had my hopes dashed once before, in Copenhagen in 2009, making it hard to place my remaining reserves of hope in the Paris climate meeting. But I also feel that things have changed fundamentally, and for the better, in the last few years. The threats are accelerating beyond expectation, but so are the opportunities. There is real hope in the IEA findings that global emissions growth has stalled even as the economy has grown. And the clean energy revolution, with its promise of clean power and electric vehicles, now seems unstoppable. Moreover, the arguments of the deniers are now transparently wrong, and outdated. The thought that they might deny the world a last chance for a better climate future is perverse. Even grotesque.
I grew up in an age of technological optimism. We thought that each decade would be better than the last. I thought that this was the way it would always be. But speaking to young people today, I realise that they have a very different view. They fear that their lives will be poorer, less stable, less enjoyable than those of their parents and grandparents. I want them to know that there is hope—that their new-found voice is making a difference—and, whether through activism, community projects or building new, green businesses, they will change the world. But members of older generations still have a disproportionate influence. Younger people need to be given the chance to create a better world for themselves.
Above all, it’s now clear that the tools required to avoid a climate disaster already exist, even if some of them require more research and development. Between deep, rapid emissions cuts and third-way technologies, we can do it. It really is over to you. Every one of you. We can now see the finishing line. Whether we win the race for a better future is your choice.