The climate crisis can also motivate
The IPCC estimates that our global carbon budget will last less than nine years at current levels of spending. If we manage to cut emissions by 18% a year from now, we still have a 66% chance of keeping warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Cutting emissions by almost a fifth a year is a staggering achievement. For Finland's energy sector, it means doing things like phasing out peat for energy every year.
The challenge is huge. It makes no difference whether the climate warms by 1.5, 2 or 3 degrees. For example, instead of 1.5 degrees of warming, 2 degrees of warming means an additional 150 million or so people will die. Every ton and deed counts.
Fortunately, people are waking up too. According to a recent Eurobarometer, 93% of Europeans consider climate change to be a serious threat and 93% say they have already done something about it. So the will for ambitious climate policy is there.
But alongside knowledge and motivation, action is needed to succeed. The responsible organisations of the future are in line with the 1.5°C target. Of course, this means reducing and zeroing out your own carbon footprint by using zero-emission energy and electricity and by changing the way you move and eat within your organisation. It also means offsetting the remaining emissions.
At the same time, it means critically reviewing the purpose, business strategy and product portfolio of your own operations.
Sustainability for the future is not only about minimising your carbon footprint, but also about maximising your ecological footprint, i.e. accelerating social change through your own operations. Those who are ahead of the curve will adapt best and benefit most. At the same time, they set the rules of the game and give policy makers the courage to make the necessary changes.
How to avoid paralysis, resistance to change and climate anxiety in the midst of all this and keep hope alive? Jari Sarasvuo has said that hopelessness is immoral. From Greta Thunberg I have learned that we do not need hope. We need action. When we start to act, there is hope everywhere. Mankind did not go to the moon because it was easy and cheap, but because the big challenge motivates us.
Leo Stranius
The author is the Director of Sustainable Futures, a Helsinki City Councillor and a climate activist. He is co-organiser of the Climate Aid climate charity event at Musiikkitalo on 23.11.2019. Stranius' book Memoirs of an Ecologist was published in September 2019.