1. Climate change and Just Transition

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Why we need to take action on climate change

University and college union UCU points out that: “There is now a scientific consensus that unless carbon-based energy use is radically reduced, the world faces a crisis in which the poorest will suffer the most, but all of us will be affected.”

The dangers of inaction are extremely serious and include:

• the possibility of many locations becoming uninhabitable;

• food shortages potentially threatening survival for many people;

• likely mass migration; and

• many species facing extinction.

The doctors’ union BMA warns that the health consequences of climate change include:

• an increase in frequency and severity of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, extreme storms and heatwaves;

• the spread of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue to new locations;

• worsening nutrition resulting from decreased agricultural productivity and higher global food prices;

• rising sea levels and associated population displacement; and

• an exacerbation of poverty and inequality.