Launch of the Climate Reporting Guide for South Africa:
Fossil Free SA, 16 September 2022
Climate Reporting Guide for SA: https://bit.ly/climate-reporting-guide-SA
Climate Beat SA newsletter: https://fossilfreesa.substack.com/p/climate-beat-sa
‘Half of humanity is in the danger zone, from floods, droughts, extreme storms and wildfires. No nation is immune. Yet we continue to feed our fossil fuel addiction. We have a choice. Collective action or collective suicide. It is in our hands.’
– UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, 18 July 2018
Brief intro to Fossil Free SA
Call us out if necessary
To save time, we’re not presenting detailed references, sources and substantiations of broad arguments today, most are in the Guide.
We can substantiate everything we’re saying, so feel free to request specific references, sources and arguments.
The Guardian, 8 September 2022
“five dangerous tipping points may already have been passed due to the 1.1C of global heating caused by humanity to date.”
“These include
2003 Met Office projections
Actual observed temperatures
Source: UK Met Office (equiv. to our South African Weather Bureau)
2003 Met Office projections
Actual observed temperatures
Source: UK Met Office (equiv. to our South African Weather Bureau)
A very fast-growing crisis
‘Much of South Africa is warming at twice the global average, and is on track to warm by 5-6C in this century.’ – Climate Reporting Guide for SA
2060
2040
2080
Governments aren’t acting fast enough to arrest the climate crisis. Why not?
There’s a gulf between global elite and SA public understanding of the climate threat
Only 20% of South Africans understand climate crisis is caused by human actions.
44% of South Africans are de facto climate change denialists:
• 16% believe that climate change is not happening
• 28% believe that it is a completely natural phenomenon.
Respondents overwhelmingly rank ‘Climate Action Failure’ as the leading risk facing the world over 2–10 year time horizon.
Global elite:
(WEF Global Risks Report 2021)
South African public:
(HSRC 2021 SA Social Attitudes Survey)
Governments aren’t acting fast enough to arrest the climate crisis. Why not?
‘We seem trapped in a world where fossil fuel producers and financiers have humanity by the throat. For decades, the fossil fuel industry has invested heavily in pseudoscience and public relations – with a false narrative to minimise their responsibility for climate change and undermine ambitious climate policies… Nothing could be more clear or present than the danger of fossil fuel expansion. Even in the short-term, fossil fuels don’t make political or economic sense.’
– UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres
Climate myths & assumptions that dilute urgency
Myths and assumptions | Reality |
Protecting the environment is an expensive luxury | The environment is the real foundation of the economy, the only home for our global society |
Climate change will be slow, predictable: we still have time to to fix it. | Climate breakdown is disorderly, accelerating nearly out of control; we need very urgent and dramatic emissions cuts of 50% by 2030. |
Net zero by 2050 will be enough. | ‘There is no more carbon budget left to burn.’ – Climate Change Advisory Group |
Our people are poor and need jobs from the fossil fuel industry | Our extractive economic model of digging stuff out of the ground to enrich executives and shareholders destroys lives and jobs around the world via climate damage, causes air and water pollution, land degradation, corruption, warfare, unstable energy costs on multiple generations around the world. This model will probably not now magically eliminate poverty and inequality in South Africa. |
Climate myths & assumptions that dilute urgency
Myths and assumptions | Reality |
‘modern science will solve our environmental problems’ (believed by 47% of South Africans) | Most governments are not responding nearly fast enough and many technological solutions are speculative/theoretical. |
Developing countries can act later | Developing countries cannot afford to wait and get no advantage from delay |
Fossil fuels can still help bootstrap economic development. | The full social and environmental costs of fossil fuels now far, far outstrip the financial returns from fossil fuels. |
There is still no real alternative to fossil fuels. | The energy transition is challenging but technically feasible, affordable, and there is no alternative. |
Net zero by 2050 will be enough. | ‘There is no more carbon budget left to burn’ – Climate Change Advisory Group |
– 16 February 2022
$1 billion: What the oil giants have spent on climate lobbying and ads since the Paris climate treaty – InfluenceMap
Fossil fuel companies have moved from outright denial to purported public acceptance of climate science – combined with behind-the-scenes lobbying to fight climate regulation and using Net Zero targets to cloak expanded production.
The Climate Reporting Guide
Chapter 2 of SA Constitution:
Bill of Rights
Relevant provisions of the Press Code of Ethics and Conduct for South African Print and Online Media
Accurate content:
Do stories reflect the facts and qualified expert opinion?
Getting climate journalism right
Appropriate editorial presentation:�Is the story given appropriate space on webpages and in headlines?
Enough content:
Is there enough climate content given its relevance to an audience?
Accurate context:
Is the climate context reported where it’s relevant, eg., in business stories on agriculture and fossil fuels
What’s next?
– Please send us feedback on this event and the Guide: david@fossilfreesa.org.za / jo@fossilfreesa.org.za
– If you want us to present on these issues and the Guide to colleagues, or students, please get in touch.
– Study the Climate Reporting Guide: https://bit.ly/climate-reporting-guide-SA
– Sign up to our Climate Beat SA newsletter: https://fossilfreesa.substack.com/p/climate-beat-sa
– Watch this space.