91% of Europeans see climate change as a serious problem (1), but nobody seems ready to act to drastically reduce its own carbon footprint. Yet respecting the Paris Agreement on Climate, that means “to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels” and “to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C”, requires a radical change in consumption mode (read previous post). But nobody is now ready for such a massive shift and we all devoid our responsibility on others.
First, individuals trust politicians to impulse change and define framework to fight climate change.
Each of us consider that we individually can’t do anything and so rely on public authorities. In a survey from IPSOS, half of the French hope that a worldwide mobilization will put pressure on decision makers (2). This somehow shows well that citizens feel individually powerless.
On their side, politicians take commitments to respond to citizen worries but without any obligation.
The last climate change declarations (read another previous post) look like electoral promises that commit only the one that trust them. The political speech consists in reassuring people, relying in the argument that technology will save us and that clean techs will allow a soft transition. Few taxes time to time allow show to the citizens that they take charge of the issue.
Private sector produce what consumers want and buy. The offer reflects the demand. So why companies would change if their consumers don’t ask for it.
By displacing the need for action on others and refusing to consider themselves as one of the first climate change fighter, all actors escape their responsibility. On the top of postponing the necessary transition, this disempowerment makes people pessimistic as presented in a BVA survey (November 2015) that showed that three quarter of French doubt of a global sustainable development (3).
Notes and references
(1) Survey by the European Commission (Eurobarometer), http://ec.europa.eu/clima/citizens/support_en
(2) Survey by IPSOS (February 2015, French)
(3) Survey by BVA (November 2015, French) http://www.bva.fr/fr/sondages/les_francais_et_la_cop_21.html
