8 People you Know want Zero emissions

When negotiators meet in Paris in December, there’ll be be one thing on the world’s mind: Are they going to keep us below 2 degrees of global warming.

While most Pacific Islands like Kiribati and the Marshall Islands think even a 2 degree path leads only to disaster, there is still a big job ahead of negotiators if we’re going to keep even to that.

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which includes about 2000 of the smartest Climate scientists on the planet said that if we get to net-zero emissions by the end of the century, we might have a 66% chance of staying under 2 degrees.

That’s pretty good. But would you play Russian roulette with a 1-in-3 chance of failure? Just to save some money for rich guys who run coal companies?

Where would that leave the Pacific Islands? They’re shouting about the need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, and that would make things just about impossible. Let alone all the added heatwaves and floods along the way.

Luckily, the team at Climate Analytics looked into this, and they say that in order to give us a more-likely-than-not chance that warming in 2100 will be below 1.5 degrees, we would need to be reach 0 emissions by about 2060.

Now, more-likely-than-not is good..but not exactly my favoured betting odds.

Suddenly 2050 seems a bit more attractive, but don’t take it from me - lets ask some experts:

Hey, if Richard Branson says it’s going to “grow jobs”, maybe we should believe him. He has a Record label, Aeroplanes, Fitness centres and an Island. If a man with an Island says its good for jobs, lets end the debate there.

Ok, you might not know this guy, but you know his company. Unilever owns owns over 400 brands like Axe/Lynx, Dove, Rexona and Sunsilk. That’s why his hair is so shiny. He probably smells good too…

If someone wins the Nobel Peace Prize, and then says its good for peace. Argument over.

Sure, it might be her job to say this. But for someone who works for an organisation that has been arguing for 21 years, if she thinks it will “unleash a wave of ambition” maybe we should try it. Even if it’s just for Christiana’s sanity.

So we have business leaders, Nobel Laureates and now Prime Ministers. Seems like it might just be a good idea…

She’s one of my heroes - now 2x over.

Though Arianna will have to compete with Desmund on the hero mantelpiece. This guy is a ganster of good. Have you seen his newest petition. Sign it!

Can you imagine selling something for $3.4 billion? Mo now gives an awards to the best African leaders each year. Wonder what could win somebody a prize this year ;)