The seven megatrends that could beat global warming: 'There is reason for hope’

Everybody gets paralysed by bad news because they feel helpless,” says Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief who delivered the landmark Paris climate change agreement. “It is so in our personal lives, in our national lives and in our planetary life.”

Solar panel installation. 

But it is becoming increasingly clear that it does not need to be all bad news: a series of fast-moving global megatrends, spurred by trillion-dollar investments, indicates that humanity might be able to avert the worst impacts of global warming. From trends already at full steam, including renewable energy, to those just now hitting the big time, such as mass-market electric cars, to those just emerging, such as plant-based alternatives to meat, these trends show that greenhouse gas emissions can be halted.

“If we were seeing linear progress, I would say good, but we’re not going to make it in time,” says Figueres, now the convener of the Mission 2020 initiative, which warns that the world has only three years to get carbon emissions on a downward curve and on the way to beating global warming. “But the fact is we are seeing progress that is growing exponentially, and that is what gives me the most reason for hope.”

A wind farm off the coast of Sussex.

No one is saying the battle to avert catastrophic climate change – floods, droughts, famine, mass migrations – has been won. But these megatrends show the battle has not yet been lost, and that the tide is turning in the right direction. “The important thing is to reach a healthy balance where we recognise that we are seriously challenged, because we really have only three years left to reach the tipping point,” says Figueres. “But at the same time, the fact is we are already seeing many, many positive trends.”

Read The Guardian  story by Damian Carrington - “The seven megatrends that could beat global warming: 'There is reason for hope’.”.”

On the brink of a whole new world: Christiana Figueres

Christiana Figueres.

Watch this eight minute video clip and hear executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Christiana Figueres, declare we are standing in the brink of a “Whole new world.”

“We are ready to embrace renewable energy,” she says.

See the video - “UN Climate Chief: Pen isn't panacea, but deal signals change.”

NSW bushfires a product of climate change - no doubt!

Executive Secretary of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate
 Change, Christina Figueres.

Bushfires in New South Wales are the product of climate change.

They are the product of the “doom and gloom” the world may be facing without vigorous action on climate change.

The executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christina Figueres, says the fires prove the world is “already paying the price of carbon”

"The World Meteorological Organisation has not established the direct link between this wildfire and climate change yet, but what is absolutely clear is that the science is telling us there are increasing heatwaves in Asia, Europe and Australia," she told CNN.

However, some climate scientist claim there is a direct link between the fires and climate change has been established and it is time for action.

A story headed: “UN climate chief Christiana Figueres calls for global action amid NSW bushfires”, notes that the circumstances that resulted in the NSW fires will worsen and become more frequent.