Why we can be hopeful

The one thing that makes me hopeful about the climate crisis is the rapid shift that we’ve seen in the last couple of years from talking about 20%, 30%, 40% cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, to organisations, regions, and countries now setting zero carbon targets, and associated plans to actually deliver on those goals. One thing that makes me hopeful about the climate crisis is hopefully our ability to discover and find new sources of renewable energy, whether that may be re-enhancing our current findings, or discovering a completely brand-new new form of renewable energy to support our growth in years ahead.

The one thing that makes me hopeful about the climate crisis is the passion of our young people who will be the leaders of tomorrow. And at the University of Reading, we’re integrating education for sustainable development throughout our programmes to enable you to take this forward. Mock COP26, the Fridays for Future marches, and similar efforts from across the world by young people make me really hopeful that the future is in really good hands. The one thing that makes me hopeful about the climate crisis is the number of young people getting involved, be it in activism, science, or engineering, it lays a great foundation for making the world a more green and sustainable place.

The one thing that makes me hopeful about the climate crisis is that people from all over the world, especially the younger generations, are willing to make the life changes needed to reduce carbon emissions. The one thing that makes me hopeful about the climate crisis is that governments around the world are beginning to consider this as a global problem, and are therefore proposing urgent and positive solutions towards this crisis. Today’s population, especially young people, are more aware of climate change than ever before. And I hope that this can lead to real, essential, and collaborative climate action, from local governments all the way up to our world leaders.

That we’ve reached this tipping point over perhaps the last 18 months, where there’s a meeting of minds about where the solutions might lie going forward. Crucially, there’s this financial muscle that’s coming on board, and of course the political will, particularly with the Biden Administration taking this very seriously. And so the work of the critical next decade can really begin. Over the past year, we have proved that where there’s a will, there’s a way. If we can turn around a global pandemic in less than two years, we can take action to overcome climate change and its consequences.