Billions of dollars are being invested in avoiding this fate, but trillions are needed. Where will it come from? High public debt levels constrain many countries’ policy options, and there aren’t enough bankable projects to generate the necessary private investment.
We live in a world assailed by crisis, with war, disease, and economic hardship taking a terrible toll on human welfare in recent years. Most alarming is the worsening impact of climate change, which threatens the existence of countless species, including our own.
Time is running out to fix the problem. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently warned that the planet’s temperature would likely rise 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels within the next decade and will shoot past that critical threshold without immediate and massive emissions reductions. We could be entering a doom loop in which the consequences of climate change distract attention and divert resources from tackling its causes, further impeding progress as the effects worsen.
