The 2024 UNEP Emissions Gap Report released overnight offers no sugar-coated messaging or room for complacency. It is a stark, science-backed reminder that the window for keeping global warming within safe levels is about shut. And yet, despite the increasing number of floods, wildfires, and storms we face globally, the world’s and Australia’s efforts to limit emissions are still falling shamefully short.
The report lays out how emissions remain stubbornly high, and global progress towards a safer, more sustainable climate is snail pace at best. But this isn’t just a reminder about global targets or political inertia; it’s about our daily choices and the urgent need for radical, transformative action.
The Numbers We Can’t Ignore
Emissions are still rising. In 2023, global greenhouse gas emissions hit record highs, and we are on track for 2.4°C of warming by the end of this century. Probably earlier and hotter if current policies aren’t ramped up. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres just tweeted we’re likely to hit 3.1°C. For context, a 2°C world is not just two notches above pre-industrial temperatures and the difference between a cardigan or not - it’s a world of severe droughts, crop failures, starvation, species extinctions, and millions of climate refugees.
The report highlights that by 2030, we need to reduce global emissions by 45% compared to 2010. That’s the global equivalent of eliminating the entire emissions of the European Union each year. And we have less than six years to do it. This isn’t just a “to-do” list for policymakers; it’s a wake-up call for every individual, business, and community to act with conviction and urgency.
Incrementalism is a Trap
The notion of gradual, incremental change that our politicians like to espouse is seductive, but dangerous. The UNEP report lays bare that there’s no time left for half-measures. “Net zero by 2050” is not enough if the pathway to get there is too slow and unreliable. We need “real zero” emissions. And now!
Our carbon budgets are almost exhausted. Every day that passes without major emissions cuts is a day closer to locking in irreversible and catastrophic damage. We must be bolder and faster, from rapidly scaling renewable energy and electrifying transportation to slashing fossil fuel subsidies and urgently ending coal and gas projects. No nation or community can afford to defer or dilute its climate policies any longer.
What Can Each Of Us Do?
While the scale of the challenge is daunting, action starts with each of us. We can, and must, make personal, community, and national commitments that align with a safe planet.
1. Vote for Climate Action: Support political leaders who are committed to immediate, meaningful emissions reductions. Challenge those who promote “business as usual” or incrementalist rhetoric and greenwashing.
2. Support Renewable Energy: Transition your household energy use to renewables where possible. Encourage your local council, workplace, or school to do the same.
3. Reduce Consumption: From flying less to cutting down on meat, our consumption patterns have an impact on global emissions. Each action we take as an individual adds up.
4. Hold Polluters Accountable: Support campaigns and policies that make corporations pay for their climate damage. The UNEP report makes it clear that without strong accountability, progress will stall.
5. Take Non-Violent Direct Action: Join, support and initiate your own non-violent actions that disrupt fossil fuel companies and politicians who refuse to act with the urgency required. I held a climate hunger strike last year and cycled my ebike across Australia this year. I regularly join and support activities arranged by organisations like the Bob Brown Foundation, and the Knitting Nannas.
The Power of Conviction
Climate Change is no longer an abstract or distant problem. The impacts are here now. Fires, floods, and deadly heat waves are our new normal. But we still have a choice. By acting with conviction, we can turn this around. We can secure a liveable planet and avoid the shame of knowingly destroying it for future generations.
Time is exhausted, but hope is not. We can and must act now - with purpose, with courage, and with the conviction that a better future is still within our grasp.
In the words of Tim Winton on his new book Juice:
We’re on a razor’s edge … the consequences of our decisions now will be the biggest in our species’ history.
Can you imagine a generation of people who could, by the way that they act over less than a decade, have such a profound consequence for those who come after?
Considering reduction of emissions has not worked, when will it be time to reduce consumption of fossil fuels? Transport is now sector causing most emissions. To reduce by 50% by 2030, don’t we need to reduce number of vehicles by 50%? ABS tells us we have more than 20Million cars. So we need to get 10M of them off the road in just 5 years, 2M/year, 40,000 per week!!!
Where’s the plan?