The environmental crisis is impacting every country on the planet. Climate change is a global challenge that does not respect national borders, affecting people worldwide with rising sea levels, shifting weather patterns, and extreme weather events. Human activities continue to drive greenhouse gas emissions to record levels, putting the planet on a dangerous trajectory. Without genuine sustainability management, global surface temperatures could rise by more than 3°C this century.
Fortunately, the urgency of climate action is gaining widespread recognition. Beyond the environmental necessity, it is now being embraced as a cultural and economic priority. A recent joint report by Ireland’s Fiscal Advisory Council and the Climate Change Advisory Council highlights the financial risks of failing to meet the European Union’s 2030 climate targets. The cost of inaction could range between €8 billion and €26 billion, significantly higher than the government’s previous estimates of €3.5 billion to €8.1 billion. These findings reinforce the importance of corporate sustainability and the need for businesses and governments alike to take proactive climate action.Keep reading to learn more about climate action and why it is being deemed ‘cool’.
What is climate action?
The term ‘climate action’ is increasingly thrown around as more people try to lead more responsible lifestyles. This can cause some confusion surrounding what exactly it means and involves. At its core, climate action is all about making efforts to fight the climate crisis and its impacts. These efforts could involve minimising individual greenhouse gas emissions.
However, acting on climate is two-folder in that it is also about taking action to prepare for and adjust to both the predicted impacts of climate change in the future and the current factors. In essence, for an individual, company, or government to take climate action, they should be mitigating their impact but also putting preparations in place so they can manage the shocks of climate change.
Climate Action is the thirteenth goal of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The aim of this goal reigns true to what genuine climate action is. The official mission statement of the goal is to “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”. Individual targets under the goal include building knowledge and capacity to meet climate change and implementing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Additionally, integrating measures into policies and planning, strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related disasters, and promoting mechanisms to raise capacity for planning and management. In achieving this goal, the UN recommends a variety of actions such as consuming less meat, buying eco-friendly products, swapping car trips for public transport or cycling, composting, offsetting, and recycling, to name a few.
Is climate action considered ‘cool’ now?
Every generation is different, but climate action is considered cool amongst today’s youngest and future consumers. In a 2019 report by Tinder, the dating app shared that its younger users – most of the people on the app are under age 25 – are more likely to mention a mission or cause they are passionate about on their profile.
When reviewing what their users are most passionate about, the environment and climate change were at the top of the list, along with gun control and social justice. Other research finds eco-anxiety is most prevalent among Gen Z’s and younger generations.
We also must consider the Fridays For Future School Strikes and climate action weeks, which naturally influenced more young people. In terms of older generations, there has always been a misconception that they do not care about climate change. However, this myth has been debunked in studies, which find there is no generational divide, and many are willing to make big sacrifices to leave behind a better world.
Summary
It’s clear the need to act on climate is urgent and research finds there is no generational divide when it comes to caring about climate change. While the spotlight has been on youths, research suggests that older generations also register caring about the environment as cool. This is incredibly timely at a point where urgency on environmental issues reaches an all-time high. We can only hope that climate action being considered cool is a trend that is here to stay.
