1. Climate change and Just Transition
[ch 1: page 6]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.