Government inaction on climate endangers us all
Governments around the world continue to protect fossil fuel companies and are not acting with the urgency required to address human-caused global warming and protect citizens from the accelerating impacts of climate and ecological breakdown.
While some governments are investing in and deploying renewable energy, fossil fuel emissions continue to rise. The U.S. government continues to subsidize oil, coal, and natural gas companies with billions of dollars every year while failing to implement policies that limit fossil fuel and resource extraction. Their decisions are contributing to the dangerous overshoot of planetary boundaries and increasing risks to human health, safety, and survival.
Conference of the Parties
Every year, leaders from more than 200 nations meet at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as the Conference of the Parties (COP). At the conference, they discuss climate agreements, solutions, and set goals for lowering emissions.
COP conferences have resulted in loose commitments toward climate goals, but these commitments haven’t translated into the level of emission reductions and policy changes required to address the scale of the crisis.
At COP28, the final agreement included language that allowed nations to continue investing in and burning coal, oil, and natural gas.
The agreement also referenced carbon capture and storage as a potential solution. Carbon capture may play a role in reducing emissions in some sectors, but it remains expensive, has not been proven to work at scale, and risks allowing governments and fossil fuel companies to continue relying on fossil fuels rather than rapidly transitioning away from them.
Voting
Fossil fuel companies spend significant amounts of money influencing politics and supporting candidates who protect policies that benefit their industry. This allows the fossil fuel industry to maintain profits despite the known risks that coal, oil, and natural gas pose to the safety, health, and survival of humans and ecosystems.
As citizens, one of the most important actions we can take is to educate ourselves about candidates and vote for representatives who recognize the urgency of the climate crisis, prioritize science, reject money from fossil fuel interests, and commit to meaningful climate action, regardless of their political party.
Courts
The courts represent another critical avenue for holding fossil fuel companies and governments accountable for climate damage and insufficient action.
Legal cases around the world are challenging fossil fuel companies and governments that are failing to adequately protect citizens from global warming and ecological breakdown. Courts have the ability to require accountability, including reparations for climate-related harms, and stronger government action that aligns with scientific findings.
A paper published by Harvard in 2023 argues that fossil fuel companies should be charged with homicide. Their products — coal, oil, and natural gas — are causing global warming so extreme that people’s health, safety, and survival are increasingly at risk, along with the ecosystems that humanity relies on for survival.
What We Can Do
While individual actions matter, meaningful progress on climate change requires demanding system change. Governments need to reduce fossil fuel dependence, companies must be held accountable, and citizens can advocate for policies that protect people and the planet.
Voting for climate-aware politicians, pressuring politicians to act on climate, and turning to the courts are important actions we can collectively take to maintain a safe, habitable Earth.
More reading
The Guardian, ‘What we now know … they lied’: how big oil companies betrayed us all
Salon, How Big Oil is manipulating the way you think about climate change
The Guardian, As resistance grows to the fossil fuel regime, laws are springing up everywhere to suppress climate activists
Yale Environment 360, Fossil Fuels Received $5.9 Trillion In Subsidies in 2020, Report Finds
