The future is not fixed but the window for meaningful action on climate is narrowing
Climate action is still within our grasp, says Professor Kevin Anderson
The climate crisis is often framed as a story of narrowing opportunities, but Professor Kevin Anderson believes there is another way to look at it. The science is uncompromising, he says, yet the ability to change course is still firmly within our grasp.
In episode 53 of The Decarbonisation Dialogue podcast, the University of Manchester professor of energy and climate change, argues that while the world has delayed action for decades, it already has the technology, knowledge and resources needed to build a lower carbon future.
Climate scientist Kevin believes the challenge is no longer one of innovation, but of honesty and political will.
He says: “We have everything at our fingertips. We have the technologies at our fingertips that we know how to deploy today. We know the social changes that are necessary. We know how fast we need to do this.”
For Kevin, the familiar climate targets of 1.5°C and 2°C have become shorthand for something much more tangible.
“These temperatures are effectively a proxy for a collection of impacts. What is important about climate change are the impacts, whether that’s droughts or floods or more fires or extreme temperatures.”
We have everything at our fingertips.
We have the technologies at our fingertips that we know how to deploy today.
We know the social changes that are necessary.
We know how fast we need to do this.
The carbon budget
Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, scientific understanding has evolved significantly. Kevin says evidence now suggests that what was once considered the safer 1.5°C threshold already represents dangerous levels of climate risk.
His research has long focused on the concept of the carbon budget - the finite amount of carbon dioxide humanity can still emit while limiting warming. He likens it to “having a salary for life”: spend it too quickly, and there is little left for the future.
That budget, he warns, is being used up at an alarming rate.
Yet Kevin believes the greatest obstacle is not technological capability, but the stories we tell themselves about climate action.
He says: “As an engineer, I would say technology is a really important part, but it’s now too late to solve the problem in isolation. Major social change is necessary.”
In our podcast interview he argues that too much emphasis has been placed on future technologies while avoiding the difficult policy decisions that can reduce emissions today.
“Our job is to appropriately inform the public of our research and our conclusions, not to sugarcoat it, not to overplay it.
“If we deliberately manipulate our information... before you know it, you’ve got a whole story of delusion.”
Learning from history
However, Kevin rejects fatalism. History, he says, demonstrates that societies are capable of profound and rapid transformation when circumstances demand it.
“We could change things very rapidly. History is punctuated with very significant changes... We have the capacity to do that.”
He describes himself as “a realist”, acknowledging the scale of the challenge while refusing to conclude that failure is inevitable.
“I’m not hopeful, but I don't think it’s hopeless.”
Instead, Kevin returns to a phrase that has shaped much of his public speaking. He borrows from the words of the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci: “Pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will.”
For Kevin, that optimism is rooted not in wishful thinking but in practical possibility. The tools to reduce emissions already exist. The evidence is clear. The expertise is available. As he puts it, “potentially we can make this rapid change.” The decisions made over the coming years will determine whether that potential becomes reality.
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