Climate change is for real. We have just a small window of opportunity and it is closing rather rapidly. There is not a moment to lose.
Rajendra K. PachauriRead
Unless a price can be put on carbon emissions that is high enough to force power companies and manufacturers to reduce their fossil-fuel use, there seems to be little chance of avoiding hugely damaging temperature increases
Interpretation
What this quote means
Without a significant carbon price, industries are unlikely to cut fossil fuel use, leading to severe climate change.
This quote emphasizes the importance of implementing a robust carbon pricing mechanism to incentivize industries like power generation and manufacturing to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. It suggests that only by making carbon emissions financially burdensome can we mitigate the risks of devastating temperature rises that threaten the environment and our future.
Themes
Carbon PricingClimate ChangeFossil FuelsEmissionsTemperature Increase
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the urgent need for policies targeting climate change.
More from Rajendra K. Pachauri
All quotes →Climate change: It's here. If we don't react, war, pestilence and famine will follow close behind
Rajendra K. PachauriRead
There is, even today, a Flat Earth Society that meets every year to say the Earth is flat. The science about climate change is very clear. There really is no room for doubt at this point.
Rajendra K. PachauriRead
Nobody on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of climate change.
Rajendra K. PachauriRead
We have embarked globally on a path of unsustainable development. Our lifestyles, the way we produce goods and services, are all part of a system that is completely unsustainable. I see solutions to climate change leading to a much larger philosophical shift in the way human society develops. We need a new matrix to define what human progress is.
Rajendra K. PachauriRead
The impact of climate change will fall disproportionately upon developing countries and the poor persons within all countries. It will therefore exacerbate inequalities in health status and access to adequate food, clean water and other resources.
Rajendra K. PachauriRead
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