Politicians who fail to act on climate change will pay the price electorally, the head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a climate speech, criticising some governments for going the wrong way.
OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria called out the United States, China, India, Canada, Mexico and Australia for worsening climate change, and called for “a big fat price on carbon” and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.
Young people were angry and demanding change, while governments were dragging their heels, which was doubly unacceptable because the technology was available and the cost was “falling like a stone”, he told a mainly student audience at Geneva’s Graduate Institute.
“It’s going to blow up in our faces,” he said, referring to the youth vote, citing evidence from the strong Green vote in May’s European parliamentary elections.
“The Greens, we have seen how important they are.
“They are not only demonstrating that they are showing a rising tide of awareness but they are also showing political muscle.
“And that is the price the politicians will pay if they do not heed the call.”
In 2015, 195 countries agreed the United Nations sponsored Paris Agreement to reduce carbon emissions, but only 12 countries had so far submitted detailed plans, Mr Gurria said.
At the same time US President Donald Trump has announced his intention to withdraw.
Mr Gurria said the world always knew the Paris deal was not enough to meet the original goal of keeping temperature increases below two degrees Celsius, and said it should be revamped.
“We are going to crash against a wall,” he said, adding that the science behind climate change was “brutally obvious”.
On Saturday the Group of 20 major economies failed to agree on fighting climate change, with President Trump dissenting from a commitment to honour the Paris Agreement.
The G20 leaders’ declaration said the United States was “a world leader in reducing emissions”, but Mr Gurria said US officials had originally wanted the word “champion”.
Officials wrestling over the wording “looked like a rugby scrum”, he said, and handed over the negotiation to ministers, but if heads of government had not taken over there might have been no mention of climate at all.
The fact that the US wanted to be included, and the great societal pressure for action, suggested the US was not the biggest problem, he said.
However, a growing number of countries were using the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement to justify foot-dragging.
“That is perhaps the most worrying effect,” he said.
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