3 Charts That Give Us Hope for the Planet’s Future
Does thinking about climate change send your blood pressure surging? Here’s some good news, courtesy of Glasgow’s COP26.
Making choices.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
With wildfires raging in California and Australia, storms flooding the capital of the world, and Madagascar on the brink of the world’s first climate-induced famine, no wonder climate anxiety is surging, especially among young people whose very future is at stake. But as the deals keep rolling out of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, it’s worth looking on the bright side. There are very real, tangible reasons for optimism — trust me.
The summit opened with a surprise announcement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India would aim for net-zero carbon emissions by 2070. That might seem, say, 20 years too late, but David Fickling says it’s a sign of how far India has come. For a long time, the country was expected to be the next China in terms of emissions (China currently pumps out about 27% of global greenhouse gases); now that narrative looks out of date. With renewable energy installations ramping up, it’s even possible that India’s emissions have already peaked.