Rethink on climate response required

THE world’s leaders have been meeting annually for the COP conferences on climate change for almost 30 years with the aim of reducing global carbon emissions to tackle climate change.

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Yet, since the first COP in Berlin in 1995, global C02 emissions have gone up by more than one third and temperature records have been broken again and again. While the rate of increase has slowed, particularly since the Paris agreement of 2015, new record highs for emissions are still being set.

The effects are all too obvious, with changing weather patterns, extreme heat and drought and more frequent storms causing damage and floods.

It is true that some countries, including the UK, have made significant progress towards becoming carbon net zero. But much of their success in bringing down emissions is as a result of ‘offshoring’ their most environmentally damaging practices. They no longer produce the same level of CO2 emissions - they just have the damage done by other nations, then import the resulting products or services and count it as a ‘win.