World is at ‘positive tipping point’ in climate change fight

The world is at a “positive tipping point” in the fight against climate change as surging oil and gas costs spur governments to decarbonise faster, former US vice-president and co-founder of Generation Investment Management Al Gore said.

He pointed to the Inflation Reduction Act signed in August, a $430bn bill seen as the biggest climate package in US history, as well as a pledge by Australia earlier in September to cut carbon emissions by 43% by 2030 and to net zero by 2050.

Gore said he also expected Brazil to change its policy on climate after an impending election and China to re-establish a dialogue with US President Joe Biden at the November’s Group of 20 (G20) summit in Indonesia.

He added that he was concerned, though, about the moves by some countries to increase fossil fuel output in the face of the war in Ukraine, which Russia calls a “special military operation”, that has sent oil and gas prices soaring.

“There is no such thing as a clean fossil fuel, just as there is no such thing as a healthy cigarette,” Gore stated. “We don’t want to see investments in fossil fuel infrastructure of the sort that will not alleviate the short-term problem, and will guarantee higher emission levels for decades to come.”

"There are signs absolutely everywhere around the world” of the pace of change picking up," he noted, adding that the need to act was also being driven by worsening weather events.

“Mother Nature has joined the discussion about the climate crisis,” Gore said.

Gore, US vice-president from 1993 to 2001, became known for climate advocacy with his 2006 documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”.