In 2020, as global carbon emissions fell by a record 7 per cent, some hailed a positive consequence of the worldwide shutdown. But normality has swiftly resumed as societies have unlocked: emissions are forecast to rise this year at the second fastest rate in history. That it took the worst pandemic for a century to reverse this trend so fleetingly reveals what is wrong.
Every day new evidence accumulates that humanity is on an unsustainable path. After accelerated deforestation, the Amazon rainforest now emits more carbon than it absorbs. In New York, smoke from wildfires thousands of miles away in California led the city to suffer the worst air quality in the world on 20 July. In Germany and Belgium, the deadliest flooding in Europe since 1985 claimed more than 200 lives. In China, record-breaking rainstorms in Zhengzhou forced the relocation of more than a million people. In London, flash floods left cars stranded and submerged train stations. There is nowhere to hide from climate change.
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