A fifth heatwave is hitting us. Wildfires are overwhelming the fire brigade’s capacity to respond. Drought is devastating harvests. The impacts of a fossil-fueled Climate Emergency are more visible than ever, yet signals from the government suggest they’ll support Shell & Equinor’s plans to drill for new oil and gas.
Against this backdrop, in their starkest warning yet, the UK’s top climate scientists have written to the new energy secretary, urging her to protect lives and livelihoods above polluters’ profits.
Deadly heat & dire warnings
I’m writing this early in the morning, curtains drawn, knowing that in a few hours’ time it’ll be too hot here – in a shaded terrace in the North of England – for me to get these words out coherently. Neighbours are heading out to work, some to kitchens and hospitals I can only imagine will be sweltering.
Huge numbers of people will have little choice but to be outside in 38℃ heat today. They’ll be fixing melted roads, fighting raging wildfires, or salvaging food crops amidst what’s set to be the worst UK harvest on record.
This heat kills, as the UK’s Met Office made clear when it announced that thousands of excess deaths were caused by May and June’s extreme temperatures. Meanwhile, countries in the Middle East brace for 50℃.
We know that there’s much worse coming our way as climate impacts escalate. As Professor Hayley Fowler, an expert on extreme weather, tells me:
This is not the ‘new normal’ or as bad as it gets.
Professor Fowler is one of 50 UK climate researchers who have signed a letter sent to a government minister this week. These scientists – many of whom lead prestigious institutes, write best-selling climate books, or advise governments on climate risks – are urging the energy secretary not to add fuel to the fires by allowing fossil fuel companies to expand their drilling operations in the North Sea.
Explaining why he signed this letter, James Dyke, a professor of Earth System Science says:
The science is crystal clear: we must keep oil and gas in the ground. Every extra molecule of carbon dioxide emitted drives us deeper into the danger zone.
Industry influence
The scientists are far from alone in being alarmed about plans for new drilling. Their words echo those of the United Nations Secretary General who recently cautioned:
Every new fossil fuel project approved today makes tomorrow’s heatwaves more dangerous, and our world less secure.
But who are governments listening to? Are the evermore urgent pleas from scientists, campaigners and international agencies really being heard above the noise of lobbying and misinformation from one of the world’s most powerful and profitable industries?
In their recent letter, the climate scientists speak out against the influence of the fossil fuel industry and its long-standing efforts to sow doubt and delay action on climate change. Alluding to the Prime Minister’s recent assurances to Donald Trump that he would take a “pragmatic” approach to new fossil fuels, they attempt to put the dangers into perspective:
Atmospheric physics doesn’t care about what pleases the industry or is perceived as politically palatable. It cares about the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere… We know that burning more fossil fuels will accelerate already-severe and escalating threats to life. There is nothing pragmatic about enabling this to continue into the decades ahead.
Fighting the fires
Yesterday, it looked like the Prime Minister might be taking a step towards confronting the crisis by holding an emergency Cobra meeting about the extreme heat, fires and drought gripping the UK. Whatever was agreed in that meeting, their strategy to protect the public will need to go far beyond a possible ban on disposable barbecues.
Upcoming decisions about the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields will be telling of how committed our government is to leading an effective, science-informed, coordinated emergency response. As Professor Fowler explains:
We need to cut fossil fuel emissions fast and invest in a safer, more resilient future. Renewables offer us that path. Opening up new North Sea oil and gas while Britain swelters through record heat is not a solution – it locks us into the very problem we need to escape.
Heat exhaustion
The heat is starting to get to me as I try to finish this article. And whilst I feel frightened and furious seeing the consequences of prioritising polluters’ profits over people’s lives, I know that this story is about more than fossil fuels, lobbying, misinformation, money and green.
It’s not easy for any of us to get our heads around the enormity of the Emergency we now face. It’s not easy to imagine how we get to a safer, fairer future at the speed needed. But we can’t negotiate with the fires and floods that continue to head our way: our only choice is to confront them, together.
Featured image via Fossil Free London
By Abi Perrin
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