2024 is history’s tipping point for climate change

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy In the history of the fight to stop global warming, 2024 will go down on this list as the year the Earth reached a climate tipping point, and mankind’s efforts to mitigate it either advanced – or surrendered. Our Climate 100 List, and a subsequent event in September during New York’s climate week, will honour those advocates, academics, celebrities, politicians, and tech entrepreneurs making a difference. The European Union has been the world’s leading political force in taking bold climate action, but the European Parliament election results earlier this year indicated that priorities were changing as energy security in the age of Russia and Ukraine overtook efforts to reduce oil and gas development. Keir Starmer has pledged to reverse Tory inaction on climate, restart onshore wind power, freeze North Sea oil licences, and create a state-owned Great British Energy group, based in Scotland and dedicated to investing in clean energy projects across the UK.