Climate crisis: seaweed, coffee and cement could save the planet

Greenhouse gas levels are on track to exceed the worst-case scenario. But, as world leaders meet in Paris for the UN climate summit this month, Tim Flannery argues that there are still realistic grounds for hope

Giant tabular icebergs surrounded by ice floe drift in Vincennes Bay in the Australian Antarctic Territory Photograph: Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images

Tim Flannery

Friday 20 November 2015  The Guardian 

This month’s meeting in Paris marks the 21st annual occasion on which nations have met to try to deal with the climate problem. After two decades of failing to agree, there is finally hope that a deal will be reached, with action to commence in 2020, and run until 2030. The world wonders whether Paris will be a success. But it is already a success, to the extent that the existing, unconditional pledges to limit greenhouse gas emissions made by nations in the lead up to the meeting are sufficient to shift humanity from the disastrous trajectory we are currently on. But the long failure of the negotiations to limit emissions gases will be felt way beyond Paris.   More

Atmosphere of Hope by Tim Flannery is published by Penguin.