We have a moral duty to act now

THE climate crisis is a global problem that requires cooperation between all nations.

That’s why today the Mirror is joining newspapers and media organisations across the world to take a common view on what must be done. Time is running out. Rather than getting out of fossil fuels and into clean energy, many wealthy nations are reinvesting in oil and gas.

They are failing to cut emissions fast enough and haggling over aid to poor nations as the planet hurtles towards the point of no return.

Since the COP26 summit in Glasgow last year, countries have only vowed to do a 50th of what is needed to stay on track for a goal of keeping temperatures within 1.5C of pre-industrial levels.

No continent has avoided extreme weather this year, from floods in Pakistan to heatwaves in Europe.

DESTRUCTION

Given that these came about from elevated temperatures of about 1.1C, the world can expect far worse.

As nations seek to reduce reliance on Russia, the world is seeing a “gold rush” for new fossil fuel projects – but while cast as temporary measures, they risk locking the planet into irreversible damage.

Humanity has to end its addiction to fossil fuels.

If renewable energy were the norm, there would be no climate emergency.

The world’s poorest people will bear the brunt of the destruction wrought by drought, melting ice sheets and crop failures.

Shielding these will require money. Rich countries account for just one in eight people in the world – but they are responsible for half of greenhouse gases.

These nations have a clear moral responsibility to help.

Developing nations should be given enough cash to address the conditions they did little to create – especially as a global recession looms.

As a minimum, a windfall tax on the combined profits of the largest oil and gas firms – estimated at $100billion in the first three months of the year – needs to be enacted.

This is no time for apathy or complacency… the urgency of the moment is upon us.