Among sweeping rightwing electoral victories across the globe, the ‘big loser of the elections has been climate’

Summary

Amid record global heat and worsening climate disasters, 2024’s elections worldwide have highlighted declining political commitment to addressing the climate crisis.

Right-wing victories, including Trump’s U.S. win and climate-skeptic gains in Europe, have sidelined climate action, prioritizing inflation and energy costs instead.

The troubled Cop29 summit in Azerbaijan, marked by stalled emissions cuts and defiant pro-fossil fuel rhetoric, reflects this shift.

While some countries, like the UK, advanced climate agendas, overall momentum is fading, leaving activists and scientists alarmed as time to prevent catastrophic warming runs out.

  • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
    442·
    1 month ago

    “We can’t afford to spend money reducing climate change”

    Also:

    “There’s more floods, fires and hurricanes. And they’re getting worse. We can’t afford to keep rescuing people and rebuilding.”

    • RecluseRamble@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      51·
      1 month ago

      To make a point you’d have to choose something we apparently can afford. What you describe is that we’re essentially broke and really can’t do anything about climate change.

      • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        1 month ago

        So, I guess we’ll just have to keep cleaning up the damage season after season, which will get much more expensive very quickly.

        .

        Investing in the future is always the less expensive solution over the long term. Unfortunately we have a bad habit of not thinking further ahead than the next election, or the next quarter profit statement.