June 13, 2024
Longer description:
We need to put democratic values, institutional strengthening, and governance innovation back at the heart of climate action if we are serious about protecting everyone from catastrophic climate damage.
We also must get serious about climate action if we want to protect our fragile democratic and human rights systems. A world of extreme climate change would undermine national and international legal systems as shocks and shortages turn people and societies inwards and elevate the politics of fear and power over rules and cooperation.
It’s not enough “to follow the science”. Anyone seriously concerned with climate change must also work to rewrite the way societies make critical collective decisions. This also has to go far beyond narrow climate, energy and transport policy to tackle fundamental issues of rights, control, devolution, compensation and accountability.
Climate action is complex and often overwhelming, needs to be enabled nationally and internationally and the consequences of action and inaction made transparent. New technologies and platforms to inform, organise and animate citizens and decision makers are vital to rewrite the global operating system for a climate-changed world.