We begin with a deliberately ambitious question. What would it take for every person on Earth to live at least as well as someone in Switzerland does today-by 2100? Not culturally Swiss, but economically empowered with high incomes, long lives, strong education, and social cohesion. Achieving this would require global GDP to be about 8.5 times higher than it is today. That figure alone is enough to trigger skepticism. Will we have enough energy, materials, food, and innovation?
"L.A.'s coal divestment is not just about discontinuing the use of coal to power our city - it's about building a clean energy economy that benefits every Angeleno. This milestone will further accelerate our transition to 100% clean energy by 2035."
Developing countries are looking at developed countries as countries that could be much more generous in supporting them to be more sustainable. They could offer more finance, and technology. This does not necessarily involve an increase in the headline amount of money to be provided directly from rich world coffers, set last year at $300bn (230bn) a year by 2035. It could also come from better use of existing finance, Correa do Lago added.
Speaking by video at the UN Climate Summit in New York last week, China's president Xi Jinping laid out his country's climate ambitions. While the stated goals may not have been aggressive as some environmentalists would like, Xi at least reaffirmed China's green commitment. "Despite some countries going against the trend, the international community should stay on the right track, maintain unwavering confidence, unwavering action, and undiminished efforts," he said. Any reference to Donald Trump and the United States was surely intended (though not explicit).
All is not lost, Simon Stiell, the UN's climate chief, told the Guardian last week. But the latest planetary health check from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research is a brutal reminder of how close the Earth is being pushed beyond repair. Seven of the nine planetary boundaries are now breached, with ocean acidification added to the danger list. Yet the world has proved that cooperation works: the ozone layer is healing, air pollution controls are working.
