“As scientists, we support the global strike for climate justice on September 23”

Ln Friday, September 23, the Fridays for Future movement is calling for a global strike for climate justice.

As scientists, we support this movement. Months after the publication of the three parts of the 6^e report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we note that the progress of climate policies, in France and elsewhere, remains very insufficient.

However, these reports again alerted to the urgency of acting with much more determination in order to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions: an intangible condition for limiting global warming well below the 2°C threshold set out in the Paris agreement, to adapt to its inevitable consequences, to ensure a livable future for all and to preserve the living.

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Summer was marked, in France, by a series of events emblematic of climate change: heat waves, water shortages, forest fires, sea heat wave in the Mediterranean, agricultural losses, floods… Same observation outside our borders , where multi-year droughts (Horn of Africa, where famines are growing, etc.) and torrential rains (Pakistan, etc.), among others, follow one another. A foretaste of the normality of the 2050s, which questions the ability to adapt to these growing risks.

Gather all the actors

The conclusion is bitter: we scientists have been warning people for decades. And here we are today to see that our delays in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, in transforming cities, agriculture, industry and transport actually place our societies and ecosystems in an unfavorable situation.

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Everyone has seen, for example, the accentuation of heat waves in cities that are slow to green, the tensions on water resources, the consequences of drought on vegetation and animals, climatic injustices at all levels, that come to light and undermine the dynamics of transformation. The situation is serious, and it will get worse with every increment of global warming, with every delay in adaptation and in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The gap is becoming evident day by day. It is time to bring all the players together by building a social project giving priority to low-emission mobility, healthy food, and the cleanest energy possible. It is time to question the uses to put in place policies of sobriety, which avoid demands for energy, raw materials, land and water, while ensuring the well-being of all within planetary limits.

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