How urgent is action? at Higher Level: This statement is Higher Level only. It asks why people facing the same science still disagree about whether to act, whether action is realistic and how fast it must come: by age, wealth, place and the fuel their economy runs on.
Practise this as you read
- Discuss how one factor shapes a person's view on cutting emissions.
- Compare the views of a developed and a developing country.
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Same science, different answers: Almost everyone can see the climate is changing. They disagree on the necessity, the practicality and the urgency of doing something about it.
The points to remember
- People disagree on three questions about climate action.
- Necessity: is action needed at all?
- Practicality: can it be done, with the money, technology and jobs at stake?
- Urgency: how fast must it happen?
- The answers depend on how vulnerable a person or society is, and on their values and income.
Each view depends on vulnerability: who is harmed first, and who can afford to cope. The next sections take the four contrasts the guide names: age, development, place and fossil-fuel wealth.
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Age changes how close the harm feels. But it does not always point the same way.
Age groups
- The young have longer to live with the effects, so many see action as more urgent.
- Older people may be just as concerned, for their children and grandchildren.
- Some older people are vulnerable now: heatwaves harm the elderly most.
- People with an illness linked to climate or pollution, such as lung disease, may care more.
- Others, young or old, see it as less urgent if they think the harm is far away.
Young: Held v Montana, 2023
- 16 young plaintiffs, aged 5 to 22, sued the US state of Montana
- They said its support for fossil fuels harmed their future
- In August 2023 a judge agreed: a first in the USA
Old: the Swiss climate seniors, 2024
- Over 2,000 Swiss women aged 64 and over took their country to court
- Heatwaves put older women's health at risk now
- In April 2024 the European Court of Human Rights agreed
Remember it as: Young: it's my future. Old: it's my health now, and my grandchildren's future.
Developed and developing societies see climate action through very different histories and incomes.
Developed and developing societies
- Developed societies emitted most of the past carbon dioxide and are rich enough to pay for change.
- Developing societies emit far less per person and need energy to lift people out of poverty.
- So many developing countries say fast cuts are less practical for them: the right to develop.
- Yet poorer people are often more concerned: they suffer the worst effects and can least afford to adapt.
- Richer people may act to protect their assets, or because green technology is profitable.
Real example: at the COP26 talks in Glasgow in 2021, India, backed by China, changed the deal's wording from 'phase out' coal to 'phase down' coal at the last minute. India gets 75% of its electricity from coal and argued for its right to develop. Small island states said they were deeply disappointed: for them, delay is dangerous.
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Where you live decides when the harm arrives. Coasts flood first; inland, the risk can feel far away, especially where the local jobs depend on fossil fuels.
Coastal and inland communities
- Coastal and low-lying communities already face floods and storm surges, so action feels urgent.
- Inland and upland communities may feel the effects less, so see it as less urgent.
- Where jobs depend on coal, oil or gas, cuts threaten people's livelihood.
- So the same country can hold opposite views in different places.
Coast: the Torres Strait
- The Torres Strait Islands are only a few metres above the sea
- Floods damage homes, graves and gardens
- In 2022 a UN committee ruled that Australia had failed them
Inland: Clermont, Queensland
- A small town in coal-mining country, far from the sea
- Many jobs depend on the mines
- In 2019 locals turned out against a 'Stop Adani' convoy
Real example: both places are in the same country, Australia. In 2019 a convoy of protesters from the south drove to Clermont to oppose the huge new Carmichael coal mine; local people met them with counter-protests in defence of mining jobs. Three years later, Torres Strait Islanders won their case at the UN. One country, opposite views.
When a society's wealth comes from fossil fuels, cutting them threatens its livelihood. Its view of what is necessary and practical changes with that.
Fossil-fuel economies, values and empathy
- Economies that profit from fossil fuels often see fast cuts as less necessary or impractical.
- Their jobs, taxes and exports depend on oil, gas or coal.
- Economies that import fossil fuels, or sell clean technology, gain from cutting them.
- Values matter too: ecocentrics see action as necessary now; technocentrics trust future technology.
- Anyone, anywhere, can feel empathy for those at risk.
Oil
- Alberta's oil sands make it the heart of Canada's oil industry, with many jobs and tax income
Price
- From 2019 Canada's government put a national price on carbon
Court
- Alberta, with Saskatchewan and Ontario, challenged it; in March 2021 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the price was lawful
Change
- Public anger at the cost grew, and the price on consumers' fuel was set to zero from April 2025
Empathy and values: Do not assume a person's view from where they live or earn. empathy lets a safe, wealthy person care deeply, and an ecocentric value system sees action as necessary now, wherever you live.
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How this comes up: Paper 2: discuss how a person's or a society's situation shapes their view on cutting emissions (age, income, place, jobs), with both sides and a conclusion. Paper 1 may give data on two countries to compare.
The Torres Strait Islands lie only a few metres above the sea, while Clermont is a coal-mining town hundreds of kilometres inland in the same country, Australia.
Discuss how where a person lives can influence their view on the urgency of cutting carbon emissions.
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