BUILDING A NEW FRAMEWORK

“The goal is a new integrated framework for thought. The whole mind is in balance, with thoughts, feelings and intuitions working together in harmony.  The mind becomes a tool at our disposal.  Free from incessant thoughts we can become open to new insights and will eventually be able to reach a place of enlightenment.”

The Tabula Project, Building a New Framework

We need a radical transformation of our relationship with the environment on which we depend.

What are the foundations of a new paradigm that would enable a response to the climate crisis that is commensurate with the scale of the challenge?  How might we foster wider recognition and understanding of our fundamental interdependence with each other and the biosphere?

A shift in mindset and perception is needed.  Art can be a window into higher awareness.

The scale of the challenge

2024 was the hottest year on record with the global average temperature reaching 1.55°C above the pre-industrial average.^[i]  The world is on a trajectory of 3.1°C heating by the end of the century, which would have catastrophic consequences^[ii]. There is no sign that the world has reached a peak.  Global GHG emissions continued to rise in 2024.[iii]

Moreover, the world must deliver drastic GHG emissions reductions against a growing backlash against climate policies and at a time of rising geopolitical tensions.  The US climate rollbacks are threatening the green transition.  There is growing uncertainty around ESG investing. Last week, following the departure of several major banks, the Net Zero Banking Alliance formally dissolved[iv]. The bleak international picture including the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, means that countries’ focus is on defence.

Meanwhile rise of populism is threatening an erosion of public debate and undermining the capacity to make difficult decisions.  Climate action is being obstructed and delayed by false and misleading information.^[v]  Denialism has evolved into strategic scepticism, with the focus now less on denying climate change and more on discrediting the effectiveness, costs, or fairness of proposed solutions^[vi].

Multilateral action works

The world must step up its efforts, but we can be encouraged by the fact that in the decade since the landmark Paris Agreement at COP21 global growth in carbon emissions has slowed five-fold to 0.32% compared to the previous decade[vii].  Multilateral action works and has created the conditions for a boom in renewable energy. The green economy is now the fastest growing sector globally behind only the tech sector[viii].  Clean energy receives twice as much investment as fossil fuels[ix].

We should also take heart from evidence of previous successful multilateral action.  The Earth’s ozone layer is healing thanks to international action and is on track to fully recover by mid century.  The Vienna Convention and its Montreal Protocol became a landmark of multilateral success.  That the ozone layer is healing demonstrates that when nations heed the warnings of science, progress is possible. ^[x]

The task for the crucial forthcoming UN climate summit in Belem will be to close the emissions gap getting closer to the 1.5°C goal agreed in Paris.  With the US having formally pulled out (again) of the Paris agreement the priority will be to ensure the multi-lateral approach holds up.

We need to think and act in a global context for the long term.

The priority must be for the world to get onto a sustainable consumption path.  We are wired to focus on immediate self-interest but the result is a lack of systemic wisdom[xi].  The cumulative impact of decisions made for short-term self-interest is putting huge strain on our ecological system^[xii].   A recent study concluded that a human behavioural crisis is at the root of climate breakdown, which is a symptom of ecological overshoot caused by the deliberate exploitation of human behaviour (Merz et al)^[xiii].

We should prioritize growth according to its contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals^[xiv] rather than strictly linear GDP.  Greater emphasis should be given to improving health and well-being, enhancing bio-diversity, creating jobs, reducing poverty, stabilising the economy, increasing resilience and ability to adapt to climate change.  A fair and just transition is essential, both on a domestic and international level.  Wealthier countries should decarbonise more quickly than poorer ones.

Pricing properly for carbon is a fundamental building block. Former world leaders have recently called for governments to implement permanent ‘polluter pays’ taxes on the fossil fuel industry.  “We have a crucial responsibility to align financial flows with climate goals, accelerate investment in renewable energy and ensure that resources are mobilized fairly and effectively to meet the needs of all communities”[xv]

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world” 

In his famous quote Mahatma Gandhi emphasized the importance of personal transformation as a catalyst for positive change.

The challenge we face is enormous.  Our world is fragmented, disordered and chaotic.  Anthropogenic climate change has the potential to destroy the world as we know it.  ‘Policy as usual’ will not achieve net zero.  The brutal reality is that even as the global average temperature continues on its relentless upward trajectory, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.  This is where our current thinking has got us.

We are out of alignment with ourselves and the environment on which we depend.  If we are to rise to the scale of the challenge, we must start by looking at ourselves.  A coherent response to the climate crisis would benefit from more holistic thinking and an approach that seeks to create unity rather than division.

THE TABULA PROJECT: A Blueprint for Change sets out how our thinking needs to change if we are to rise to the scale of the climate challenge.  By examining our current thought patterns and clearing away the main obstructions to progress we can begin the work of building a new paradigm.  The report recommends that climate policy is underpinned by five key pillars of unity.

THE PILLARS OF UNITY

1. Seeing the whole picture
2. Integrating heart and mind
3. Being at one with nature
4. Healing the whole system
5. Becoming citizens of ‘One World’

Too often the lens through which we perceive is faulty.  We should seek to see the whole picture.  We need to become more honest and self-aware about our decision-making.  How we think is linked to our history and sense of identity.  Are the assumptions underpinning our response to the climate crisis fit for purpose?  We are part of the problem if we persist with the illusion that ‘business as usual’ will achieve net zero.

Integration of thoughts and feelings will be critical to tackling climate change.  The division between the rational and emotional brain runs deep in our society and culture.  It causes confusion, is profoundly destabilising and leads to poor decision making.  We need to engage our emotional as well as our rational brains.  This is a battle for hearts and minds.

We must be at one with nature.  We need to create fairer and more equitable systems that allow humans and the environment to thrive.  We need economic templates that shrink the world’s carbon footprint without also shrinking our quality of life and with a fair and just transition at their heart.  We should foster the understanding that protection of nature is protection of our very selves.

Too much attention tends to be given to treating the symptoms of problems and not enough to the system.  Healing the whole system means addressing the root causes of our problems.  If we are to tackle the root cause of climate change, we need above all to address our addiction to fossil fuels.  Pricing properly for carbon is a fundamental building block.

We should strive to become citizens of ‘One World’.  We need to connect with our natural empathy and respect for each other and all living species.  This requires us to avoid polarisation and ideological thinking and seek instead to promote intrinsic and ‘bigger than self’ values.  Climate change is a global intergenerational problem requiring unprecedented international levels of cooperation.

More than 8 out of 10 people globally want to see their countries set aside geopolitical differences and work together on climate change[xvi].  Climate change is one issue that could bring the world together and help us to overcome our historic divisions.

These are some of the themes to be discussed at the BUILDING A NEW PARADIGM roundtable discussion on Thursday 16^th October 10:00-12:00.  We will be joined by

• Cllr Bridget Smith, Leader South Cambridgeshire District Council
• Alex Mayer MP, Transport Select Committee Member
• Professor Glenn Lyons, Mott MacDonald Professor of Future Mobility, University of the West of England

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND THIS EVENT PLEASE VISIT THE REGISTATION PAGE HERE 

[i] https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/wmo-confirms-2024-warmest-year-record-about-155degc-above-pre-industrial-level

[ii] https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2024

[iii] https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2025/co2-emissions Global GHG increased by 0.8% in 2024, hitting an all-time high of 37.8 Gt CO2

[iv] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/03/banking-industry-net-zero-alliance-shuts-down-climate-nzba

[v]https://www.ipie.info/news/press-release-climate-misinformation-threatens-global-action-says-ipie-assessment

[vi] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/19/climate-misinformation-turning-crisis-into-catastrophe-ipie-report

[vii] https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/2025/paris-agreement-at-ten-brakes-slammed-on-emissions-growth-finds-analysis

[viii] https://www.esgtoday.com/green-economy-outperforms-global-market-over-past-10-years-second-only-to-tech-lseg/

[ix] https://www.iea.org/news/global-energy-investment-set-to-rise-to-33-trillion-in-2025-amid-economic-uncertainty-and-energy-security-concerns

[x] https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/wmo-bulletin-shows-successful-recovery-of-ozone-layer-driven-science

[xi] Gregory Bateson, Steps to an Ecology of Mind, 1972, University of Chicago Press, 2000

^[xii] Ervin Laszlo, The Chaos Point: The World at the Crossroads, Piatkus Books Ltd London, 2006

[xiii] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00368504231201372

Joseph J Merz, Phoebe Barnard, William E Rees, Dane Smith, Mat Maroni, Christopher J Rhodes, Julia H Dederer, Nandita Bajaj, Michael K Joy, Thomas Wiedmann, Rory Sutherland, 2023 .  A human behavioural crisis is at the root of climate breakdown.  Unless demand for resources is reduced, most climate solutions just tackle symptoms not causes.  Climate breakdown is a symptom of ecological overshoot which in turn is caused by the deliberate exploitation of human behaviour.

[xiv] https://sdgs.un.org/goals

[xv] https://www.edie.net/former-world-leaders-call-for-permanent-fossil-fuel-tax-hike/

[xvi]https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-06-20-80-percent-people-globally-want-stronger-climate-action-governments-according-new