Fixing the climate ‘more urgent than ever’

Al Gore, speaking at Davos, said the jobs that could be created by solving the climate problem are 'exactly what the economic doctor ordered' Keystone

Christiane Figueres, who brokered the COP 21 climate agreement in Paris, is “hugely concerned” about the environmental credentials of the incoming Trump administration in the United States and urges the world to act faster towards implementing the 2015 deal.

Speaking at the Arctic Basecamp event on the sidelines of WEF in Davos, Figueres said it was time for the climate change agenda to gravitate away from bickering politicians towards companies, investors and ordinary people.

The 2015 Paris Agreement committed 195 countries to restricting climate warming to no more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels, with an ultimate goal of 1.5 degrees.

Figueres was executive secretary to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change between 2010 and 2016, during which time the Paris Agreement was signed. But she is worried that a trend of political protectionism may hold back these objectives.

“National governments are going to have a difficult time with each other,” she predicted at the event hosted by the Davos-based Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research. “I’m hugely concerned about the incoming [US] administration.”

“We need to change the onus of action away from the political conversation to people who can really make a difference: businesses, cities and investors.”

The Arctic Basecamp gathering of scientists in Davos was set up to press home the message of how climate warming is affecting the polar regions. Another speaker at the event was former US Vice-President Al Gore, who warned that climate change could result in millions of “climate refugees”, adding further political and social instability to the world.

By contrast, solving the climate problem could create countless jobs and boost flagging economies around the world, he added. “This is exactly what the economic doctor ordered,” he said.