SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability : Closing The Say-Do Gap
By Chris Githaiga
World leaders , civil society activists , scientists , multinational conglomerates , and all other shades of interests were in Sharm El-Sheikh , Egypt , this November for the climate change conference dubbed COP27 . This is the biggest and most important annual climate-related conference on the planet .
The talks are hinged on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) adopted in Rio de Jenairo , Brazil , in 1992 and entered into force in 1994 . Since then , there have been many extensions to the UNFCCC treaty including those negotiated during these COPs to establish legally binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries , and to define an enforcement mechanism .
Some of the landmark agreements include the Kyoto Protocol 1997 , and the Paris Agreement in 2015 . The Kyoto Protocol defined emission limits for developed nations to be achieved by 2012 ; while the Paris one saw all countries agree to step up efforts to try and limit global warming to 1.5 ° C above pre-industrial temperatures , and boost climate action financing .
Climate change is responsible for the destruction of infrastructure , food insecurity , loss of livestock , crops and livelihoods and displacement of people . Recent data shows that two in five ( 43 %) believe conflict to be the greater cause of internal displacement , while a third ( 32 %) chose climate and weather-related disasters . 9.8 million people were displaced due to changes in weather or
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Without a paradigm shift in the worldview from treating the environment as part of the economy to treating the economy as part of the environment there will never be meaningful actions towards addressing the climate crisis . climate in the first 6 months of 2020 , compared with 4.8 million displaced by conflict .
The COP27 , was therefore expected to deliver action on issues critical to addressing the climate emergency - from reducing greenhouse gas emissions , helping communities build resilience and adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change , to financing climate action and addressing loss and damage in developing countries .
The world already agrees on the need to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to prevent dangerous interference from human activity on the climate . Ipsos recent studies show that consumers care about the environment and that sustainability continues to be a priority . On average , 70 % globally say they are more worried about the environment now than a year ago and 72 % agree that if ordinary people do not act now to combat climate change , they will be failing future generations .
Research , however , shows that actions in favor of the climate are still not very effective and changing lifestyles is proving difficult . In fact , there is a glaring dilemma across the world and in almost every sector when it comes to the fight against climate change and sustainable lifestyles . This situation is manifested in the empty rhetoric devoid of any tangible actions . It is this lack of action to demonstrate the global concern about global warming that represents a “ say-do-gap .”
There is also no consensus on the idea that a mere change in lifestyles would help fight climate change : it is shared by one out of two inhabitants of the planet ( 51 %) and has tended to drop back in the past 2 years ( -2 points since 2019 ).
For 69 % of the world ’ s population , the levers for resolving climate problems are still primarily a matter for governments . Consumers feel that they are acting on their own level ( 50 %) and only 45 % think that it is up to them to act .
Globally , people are already carrying out several actions on an everyday basis : 40 % carry out four actions or more systematically , 67 % two or more . But it turns out that the actions most taken - sorting waste , purchasing only seasonal fruits and vegetables , reducing packaging - are not the ones that would be most effective in fighting climate change .
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