Wildfires are raging – and the world has junked 45 climate pledges. Disaster looms, and little wonder | Bill McGuire
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- We Don't Have Time reported that 45 climate policies were reversed globally in the 12 months to July, with Europe leading the retreat across carbon pricing, methane emissions, and the phasing out of petrol and diesel vehicles.
- More than 35,000 wildfires are currently burning across the planet, according to the column, even as governments deliberately turn away from climate action.
- We Don't Have Time laid the blame squarely at fossil fuel industry lobbying, arguing polluting sectors dominate the meetings where climate decisions are made.
- The rate of global heating has doubled, yet climate scientists remain largely silent, with McGuire citing fears over funding, academic advancement, prestige, and colleague ridicule as the main reasons.
- Bill McGuire estimates there are at least 18,000 climate scientists worldwide — a figure he calls an underestimate — alongside nearly 10 million scientists across all disciplines who could collectively pressure policymakers.
- McGuire's 2021 open letter urging climate scientists to speak out publicly has, by his own account, produced little change five years later.
Why it matters: Europe — long cast as the global climate leader — is now in the vanguard of rolling back carbon pricing, methane, and vehicle phase-out policies, precisely as 35,000+ wildfires burn and the rate of global heating has doubled. If the continent that set the emissions-reduction precedent keeps retreating, the political cover for other major emitters to backslide widens, and the window to reverse course narrows.
