World leaders should be in court.

by Graham Wroe

The Covid enquiry has reached its conclusions and found that Boris Johnson’s chaotic Covid decisions and delays were responsible for the deaths of 23,000 people. And yet he’s still allowed to claim a whopping £115,000 a year, for life, just for being a former Prime Minister.

I wonder at what point in the future there will be an enquiry into politicians’ lack of action on climate change. On August 14, 1912, the New Zealand newspaper, the Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette. published an article titled “Coal consumption affecting climate.” This described how the burning of coal was adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and could raise the Earth’s temperature considerably in a few centuries.

This year, the ninth annual Lancet Countdown report, authored by 128 experts from 71 academic institutions and UN agencies worldwide, shows that Climate change is already claiming millions of lives annually through extreme heat, air pollution, wildfires and the spread of deadly infectious diseases.

The findings arrive as the world exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures for the first time in 2024. Greenhouse gas emissions reached record levels, as the lack of a global response to climate change sets the world on track for a catastrophic 2.7°C to 3.7°C of warming by the end of the century.

The first irreversible tipping point has already been reached. Warm coral reefs worldwide are facing collapse, causing food insecurity throughout the world. We are on the precipice of many other tipping points that will dramatically change our climate and cause billions of deaths if we do not slash our emissions. Should the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation collapse, it will plunge our country into a never-ending winter, making it impossible for farmers to grow crops. 

Yet despite all this evidence, COP 30 failed even to mention limiting the use of fossil fuels in its agreement.

Boris’s Covid incompetence was truly tragic. But it is nothing compared to the absolute failure of world leaders over the last fifty years to tackle climate change. I hope one day they will be answerable in court.