2022 was our hottest year on record, with an unprecedented number of heat-related deaths, wildfires and infrastructure disruptions. 2023 looks set to be still worse. But our response is not yet requisite to the scale of the challenge. Climate change is an existential threat which we have become strangely accustomed to living with.
Transport is the fastest growing source of global emissions and the biggest polluting sector of the UK economy. The current approach to decarbonising transport has achieved very little progress over 30 years. Increased road traffic has largely offset improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency. The central proposition of Greener Vision’s Pathways to Net Zero thought leadership programme is that we need a whole systems transition to net zero and a paradigm shift in terms of how we think about decarbonising transport[1].
Since early 1990s, through my art, I’ve been working on a creative project which started with the assumption that we won’t solve our most intractable problems with the same thinking that created them in the first place[2]. The Tabula Project aims to provide a new perspective on the mind. Anthropogenic climate change is not the only peril we face but it is arguably our greatest existential threat. If we are to make any real progress, we will need to change our whole approach.
I have been on two parallel journeys. It feels timely and potentially worthwhile to bring these separate journeys together through this current inquiry.
Over the summer I will be running an inquiry, investigating where decision making on tackling the climate crisis has become flawed and how our thinking needs to change. This needs to start with an honest appraisal of how we look at the problem. For more information see below:
Greener Vision: Consultation 2023
The climate crisis is the defining challenge of our times. For real and lasting change to occur we need to begin with ourselves.
[1] https://greener-vision.com/publication/pathways-to-net-zero-series-of-reports-and-roundtable-discussions/
[2] https://www.claire-haigh.com/
About the Author
This post was written by Claire Haigh. Founder & CEO of Greener Vision & Executive Director of the Transport Knowledge Hub. Claire was previously CEO of Greener Transport Solutions (2021-2022) and CEO of Greener Journeys (2009-2020).