On 13 April 2021, a report by the Cambridge Sustainability Commission on Scaling Behaviour Change was published. It provides recommendations for tackling the climate crisis. Professor Julia Mildorfová Leventon from CzechGlobe was also a member of the Commission.
The report calls on policy makers to focus on the biggest polluters in the UK, start the transition to more sustainable behavior and provide affordable low-carbon alternatives for low-income households.
The Commission stated that while efforts to address the climate crisis will require a change in the behavior of each individual, the responsibility for the current situation is not evenly distributed. Indeed, only 10% of the population is responsible for almost half of the growth in absolute global emissions between 1990 and 2015, with the richest 5% contributing more than a third of all the emissions. It is this “polluters elite” that should drastically change its lifestyle in order for us to be able to keep global warming below 1.5 ° C threshold until the end of the century.
Low-income households should be able to change their behavior through the developing new infrastructure that will provide them with low-carbon alternatives to transport and travel, housing, energy use and also food security.
In the UK, the Report has already attracted a lot of media attention. It points out, among other things, that while the UK is preparing to host the COP 26 climate summit, it is supporting some of the biggest polluters through tax reliefs. The report can be downloaded here
