Climate change: Social tipping points leading us away from indifference onto the path of progress

The world appears to have finally woken up to the existential threat of global warming, and the drive to fix the problem is accelerating across the board. The planet’s biggest carbon polluters – China, US, EU – vow carbon neutrality by mid-century; solar and wind power continued to surge even as global GDP shrank five percent last year; two-thirds of humanity see a “climate emergency”; a top-five automaker says it will only make zero-emission vehicles after 2035; major investors recoil from coal, while fossil fuels companies shrivel in value. Last week UN chief Antonio Guterres noted that — net-zero promises notwithstanding — “governments are nowhere close to the level of ambition needed to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.” The 2015 treaty calls for capping global warming at “well below” 2C compared to preindustrial levels, and the world is currently on track for double that. “A global tipping point will come when EVs cost the same to manufacture as conventional cars,” said Tim Lenton, an Earth system scientist at the University of Exeter and lead author of recent research that takes Norway’s EV saga as a tipping points case study. “In the beginning, it does matter why they do it, but later it matters less,” said Otto, lead author of a study on the social tipping dynamics needed to stabilise Earth’s climate by 2050.