Make or Break
Prime Ministers and Presidents, diplomats and delegates from across the planet arriving in Glasgow for COP26 - this year’s annual climate change shindig in November - will know that United Nations’ Secretary-General António Guterres called 2021 “a make or break year” for climate change.
But for whom is it make or break? The answer is an indefatigable everyone - you, me, our families, friends, communities, organisations of all motives and structures. We need a significant change in what we do, and how we do it. Not someone else. Not somewhere else. All of us. Here and now.
We know that we all have a part to play in making changes to have a positive impact on the climate, but it’s often really hard to know where to begin and what precisely is the most important problem to be solved? Needless to say the climate emergency is a complex and deeply interconnected set of problems - the sort that can only be solved iteratively and collectively.
“Climate change is a real threat but it is entirely predictable and it is entirely preventable, which is why it is so critical that our global leaders really do lead.”
The impact of collective human activity on the climate of our planet is no longer disputed. The mean global temperature is rising with broad and only partially known consequences. With every passing moment, the likelihood of abrupt and irreversible changes to the climate increases. The COP21 Paris Agreement in 2015 set a maximum temperature rise target of 2°C, with a strong preference towards 1.5°C. A 2020 article in Nature said based on current national pledges to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions we’re looking at 3°C of global warming - double the target. Such an increase is likely to trigger multiple weather system changes.
In fact Professor Tim Lenton, one of the article co-authors and Director of the Global Systems Institute at University of Exeter, suggests some of the recent extreme weather events around the globe are better explained as an early warning, a ‘flickering’ of signals before new weather patterns evolve that could see us heading towards a 10-metre rise in sea level and a multitude of unpredictable tipping points.
The complexity of the challenge is that it’s too big to relate to in a meaningful way. Liminal, a collective intelligence community, has been working alongside the TEDxGlasgow team to support and facilitate their Partners Climate Action Initiative. It’s a growing and diverse group of 18 organisations covering private and public organisations, global brands and local partnerships across diverse sectors including communications, transport, food and drink, power generation, consultancy, local and national government (see partner logos below). It’s a community where good ideas worth spreading can proliferate from one sector of our collective system to another.. Through regular monthly meetings and on-going communication, it’s a group that recognises that required actions to reduce the impact of climate change must happen outside of and beyond Glasgow’s COP26 conference.
As a diverse group we share a very strong and unifying shared objective: to inspire and achieve accelerated action towards Net Zero over the next 12 months and beyond, through identifying new opportunities for collaboration and learning. It’s a forum where shared commitments are made and old habits are changing, as we get further faster by working together and openly and honestly sharing our aspirations, opportunities and challenges.
Partners have taken it in turns to share plans, experience and ask questions on available tools, including science-based targets looking at how much and how quickly an organisation has to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to prevent the worst effects of climate change. Companies share plans to reduce direct, indirect and value chain emissions. Several partners are already working together collaboratively as a result. While at the individual level, promoting Count Us In also encourages individual action.
Liminal has convened, curated and facilitated many communities like this before, with remarkable results. The Scaling Out for Impact community with Newton Fund, connected small and medium sized organisations from the UK and South Africa, producing 15 collaborative, sustainable and inclusive international partnerships.
And our recent Transforming Food Production programme with Innovate UK, helped to bring a diverse group of people and organisations together to collectively map out and co-create the future of the alternative protein sector in the UK, an essential part of reducing greenhouse gases.
We believe that many of the most important and urgent challenges of our times require bringing together these new types of diverse consortia or communities with a common objective, at an unprecedented scale, quantity and speed. In doing so the number of productive relationships and the quality of the shared learning will surpass all expectations, if there is a core foundation being developed with trusted relationships based on shared values. And having the courage to try something new.
“The first thing we have to appreciate is that this is a deeply solvable problem.”
So as we look ahead to the forthcoming COP26 summit in Glasgow, the fear is that political rhetoric triumphs, once again, over decisive action and that the gathered minds will continue to think individualistically for the short term. For Professor Lenton the hope is that delegates and countries “come together to create positive tipping points to accelerate change to tackle the climate crisis.” We agree.
We know that by working together collectively, we can all be part of that change. That takes courage and leadership at an organisational and personal level. So please let us know how we can help you, and how you can help others? By working together, we know that now is the time to build and activate a community or ecosystem of partners that can tackle the most pressing challenges that will make or break our future.
Emily Shuckborough Quote - BBC Newsnight 13/09/21
Myles Allen Quote - BBC A Life Scientific 18/2/20