We Choose to Act Now: Conway’s Climate Commitment

The 2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report sends a clear message: “the time for action is now.” 1 The panel’s “now or never” message calls for halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to avoid severe harm to ecosystems (including humans). Just as clear is where to focus mitigation efforts:

• 20 fossil fuel firms produce one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions.2

• 100 firms produce 70%.3

• The wealthiest 10% use “20 times more energy than the poorest 10%.” 4

Those who will suffer the most from climate change—a crisis created by these firms and exacerbated by the wealthiest individuals—are those contributing the least to the problem: these include low-income people in historically, systematically (often along racial lines) disadvantaged communities.5

The social and political systems that enable exploitation of people—their labor, health, and resources—enable the exploitation of natural systems. As Yolande Wright shared at COP26, “There can be no climate justice without social justice.”6

Top and middle: A Climate Resilience Plan for Plainfield, MA (Matis, Rosenwinkel, Tanzer, 2022)

Bottom: A Spatial Analysis Supporting Holyoke’s Food System (Finnell, Hagan, Houser, 2022)

1 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2022. “The Evidence Is Clear: The Time for Action is Now. We Can Halve Emissions by 2030.” IPCC Press Release, April 4, 2022. https://www.ipcc.ch/2022/04/04/ipcc-ar6-wgiii-pressrelease/

2 Taylor, Matthew, and Jonathan Watts. 2019. “Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions.” The Guardian https://www.theguardian. com/environment/2019/oct/09/revealed-20-firms-third-carbon-emissions

3 Timperley, Jocelyn. 2020. “Who is really to blame for climate change?” BBC Future https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200618-climate-changewho-is-to-blame-and-why-does-it-matter.

4 Timperley 2020.

5 World Health Organization. 2021. “Climate Change and Health.”

6 Roelen, Keetie. 2021. “COP26: No climate justice without social justice.” Poverty Unpacked. https://poverty-unpacked.org/2021/11/05/cop26-noclimate-justice-without-social-justice/