The heatwave currently gripping Europe is exceptionally severe. Guardian’s European environment correspondent, Ajit Niranjan, is answering readers’ questions in a live Q&A – about the reasons for the extreme heat, but also about the political and social consequences.
One reader asked whether climate protection inevitably leads to global autocracy. Niranjan said no: autocracies are already building wind turbines and solar panels in poor countries, publicly traded companies in democracies receive state aid for carbon capture, cities are turning parking lots into bike lanes, and individuals are swapping steak for tofu. All these are important steps in scientific roadmaps to decarbonization by mid-century.
Another focus of the discussion was the paradox that right-wing populist parties in Western Europe reject climate action even though their voters largely accept climate science. According to Niranjan, polls show that fewer than ten percent of the population deny climate science, while right-wing populist parties that do so regularly receive over 20 percent of the vote. The obvious explanation is that voters support these parties for other reasons – primarily migration. Why the parties nevertheless devote so much energy to climate hostility is less clear. One plausible theory is that the right considers the fight over migration already won and now needs new battlefields to distinguish itself from the established parties.
Source: www.theguardian.com
