The Decade We Have Woken Up to Climate Change

Deserving of this title, or premature?

Vanessa Ellia, Print Staff Writer

December 28, 2021

Many have argued that these last 10 years have been  the decade humanity woke up to climate change. With rising  acceptance of climate change’s anthropomorphic causes around the world , more countries have begun to take responsibility and work towards a solution, and this mobilization has played a major role in shaping international relations. In these past years, many things have changed in how people respond to issues of climate change, influenced by the rise of citizen action internationally, increased net zero initiative pacts between countries, and the impact of COVID-19 on economies everywhere. All of these changes, among many others, have played a significant role in mobilizing institutions and people all over the world, so does this mean this decade is worthy of such a title?

The past few years have been marked by a series of significant  events like increased hurricanes, extreme heat waves, forest fires, and rising sea levels, signaling the growing intrusiveness of climate change. As a result, public interest in and concern about climate change has increased dramatically. The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication director Anthony Leiserowitz shared that throughout the early 2000s, people became more engaged in the question of climate change, which led scientists to speak out and build urgency in hopes that informing people would create a domino effect by slowly working to influence institutions. In 2020, the Yale program surveyed Americans and found that the number of those interested in climate change rose nearly 10% from previous years, and the number of respondents who thought global warming was a personal and global concern rose from 31% to 42%. The rise in these numbers indicates a rise in people recognizing climate change as an issue, and better yet, recognizing that something must be done about it. 

Consequently, activity regarding climate change has increased, especially amongst young people. The immense uptick in citizen action, Kelly Levin shares, is unprecedented, with millions around the world taking to the streets and social media to demand action from people in power. As more attention is being directed to the issue, people have become aware of what it is and what should be done to fight it; this has worked to impact institutions around the world. Especially prominent in the last couple of years, social media has been flooded with climate change content serving to educate others and call out government officials and demand action. This rise of content has proven successful, with governments around the world unable to ignore citizen demands, thus sparking a rise in the rise of net zero initiatives by various countries. 

In September of 2020, the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, announced that China aimed to go carbon neutral by 2060 - a massive feat for a country responsible for approximately 28% of world emissions. Such a bold statement made an impact in foreign affairs discourse, prompting many economies to follow suit and make a commitment to carbon neutrality. The United Nations (UN) estimates that over 110 countries have set net zero targets for mid-century, and together these economies represent more than 65% of global emissions. Behind all of these net zero initiatives, the collapsing cost of renewables has also contributed to the push for renewable power. Already cheaper than fossil fuel power, the price of renewables is expected to continue falling, sparking a continuous rise in their popularity and competitiveness in markets. All of these recent developments have produced significant figures with solar energy production increasing by 900% between 2010-2018, wind energy production tripling since 2010, and the rise of solar panel purchases putting the U.S on the road to 100% renewable energy by 2050. 

COVID-19 has played a major role in net zero initiatives, with gas emissions dropping about 6% in 2020 due to travel bans and economic slowdowns. During this period of gas emission decline, the pandemic delivered the most significant economic shock since the Great Depression, motivating governments to step forward with green investments to recover post-pandemic. The EU and Joe Biden’s new administration in the US have promised trillions of dollars in green investments in an effort to spark economic recovery while still adhering to green goals. Even businesses have heard this call for green action, with markets aiming to make it mandatory for businesses and investors to show that their activities and investments are contributing to the net zero world goal. 

This policy change in particular set the stage for the 2021 Glasgow conference; the successor to the landmark Paris meeting of 2015 that gathered all the nations of the world to come together and tackle issues of climate change. Delayed due to the pandemic, the meeting was postponed for the end of this year, and was expected to highlight all the green initiatives by corporations and governments and work to take further steps towards the UN’s goals of phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and forming a global coalition to reach net zero by 2050. A decade that started off with climate change discussions within social media has evidently sparked massive mobilization that far exceeded just the media’s sphere of influence. The Glasgow conference is proof that all these years of information, education and passion for a greener planet have not been wasted efforts, but rather have birthed a movement so influential that it has driven nations to sign up for policies to reduce emissions and instill post-pandemic recovery plans to shape the 21st century in ways that are clean, green, healthy, safe and more resilient; as the UN promotes. 

While it is clear that many changes have occurred in the last decade regarding climate change, they are far from enough as the need for long-term systemic shifts in economies is still not quite within arm's reach. The epithet of having “woken up” to climate change, while not premature, is one we must continue to rigorously work to maintain for it to ring true. There is much to be done but hopefully the momentum this decade has built will allow us to look back at these years positively and acknowledge this period as one in which humans finally put aside their differences to mobilize for our planet.