The danger posed by heat waves in Europe must be taken more seriously. On the mainland, the news is about forest fires. In the UK, the story is about the grinding country. Both views hide a deadly truth. High heat levels are a killer, one sees retrospectively in data on excess deaths and hospital admissions. It was only in 2008 that statistics concluded that as many as 70,000 people died as a result of a heat wave in Europe in 2003. By foolishly telling people to “enjoy the sun” Dominic Raab, the UK’s deputy prime minister, has shown that there is no challenge he will not stand for.
Global warming will make lethal summer temperatures more common and more extreme. Tory party members seem unconcerned. Cabinet minister Alok Sharma is a rare voice of reason. However the high court ruled that the government’s net-zero strategy was inadequate. Judges gave ministers until March to show how the emission targets will be met. It is troubling that at least one of the contenders in the Tory leadership race thinks the choice for the Conservatives is either to be a zero-net party or a low-tax party.
Any leading politician who thinks this compromise is right – especially during what could be a record heat in Britain – is not right to be Prime Minister. However, this may not be the biggest problem facing the world. Joe Biden had a plan to put the United States on a path that was an improvement over Donald Trump’s antagonism, but it wasn’t good enough. The United Nations warns that limiting global warming to 1.5C is needed to prevent the worst of the impacts of the climate crisis. But Mr Biden has put the US on the right track to 2C. However, even this modest goal was opposed by Republican and centrist Democratic politicians. Last week, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who took more campaign cash from the oil and gas industry than any other senator, sank Mr Biden’s climate agenda. .
The United States accounts for less than 5% of the current global population but is responsible for five of the greenhouse gases. That the world could burn itself to the ground because the West Virginia economy runs on fossil fuels is further proof of how anachronistic American democracy is becoming. Pursuing zero-net policies will not stop economic growth or cause inflation. But it will lead to political realignments. This should be a warning to voters in Britain. Mr Biden’s plan was for investment in green technologies. However, in states like West Virginia, voters appear suspicious of economic transformations after industrial jobs disappeared and never came back. They stick to what they know: oil, coal and gas.
In Britain, Boris Johnson won in 2019 with an electoral coalition that included a former Labor heartbroken caught in part by the idea that they could be leveled by potentially switching from carbon-intensive industries – with a greater risk of reducing emissions to zero net by 2050 – through decarbonisation. Some of Mr Johnson’s potential successors have unscrupulously pointed out that this could mean taxing the wealthy South – who are disproportionately represented in the Tory’s ruling leadership – to pay for the transformation of -tramuntana. Hence the hint that zero net targets may be removed or delayed. It is the mark of a principleless rogue who says something to move forward. Britain does not need a leader who fails to meet the existential challenge of the climate emergency.
