Agnistio bero ipiet aut eum et fScientists have established that climate change is one of the most devastating problems humanity has ever faced – and, even as we speak, the clock is ticking and time is running out.

Nature faces a looming catastrophe amid the raging debate between fossil fuels and renewable energy, primarily centred around the environmental impact, with fossil fuels being a major contributor to greenhouse gases and climate change.

On Monday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) opened its sixty-second session in Huangzhou, China, the first in 2025. It began with a warning from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) that 2024 was the warmest year on record, about 1.55 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Several United Nations dignitaries referenced this warning at the important scientific and political meeting, underscoring the urgent need to accelerate climate action.

According to scientists, emissions need to fall by 42 per cent by the end of this decade to avoid a global temperature rise in excess of the 1.5 degree Celsius, considered the threshold to far more dangerous impacts than we are seeing at present.

Host country China highlighted its progress toward a low-carbon society and reaffirmed their commitment to international climate science cooperation. Li Yanyi, vice governor of Zhejiang, noted that renewable energy has, for the first time, surpassed coal power and pointed to investments in resilient infrastructure.

Sustainability question

The debate between fossil fuels and renewable energy has intensified with proponents citing sources like solar and wind renewable as producing significantly less pollution, which makes them the preferred options for a sustainable future.

However, concerns remain about the cost, reliability, and scalability of fully transitioning to renewable energy, particularly with inconsistent weather patterns or high energy demands.

Overall, the scientific consensus leans heavily towards prioritising renewable energy sources to mitigate climate change, but a balanced approach may be necessary to manage the transition while ensuring reliable access in the near term.

Arguments supporting replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy include mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving air quality, energy security through diverse domestic sources, economic benefits from job creation in the renewable energy sector and technological advancements from making renewables increasingly cost-competitive.

Arguments against it often cite concerns about the intermittent nature of renewables, high initial investment costs, grid integration challenges, and potential environmental impacts of certain renewable technologies in specific regions.

However, proponents of renewable energy say its advantages far weigh the negative impacts of fossil fuels on humanity, the environment and economies.

As citizens around the world increasingly favour serious policy action to fight climate change, the fossil fuel industry is being accused of undermining democratic principles to stem the tide of climate action. Oil companies are also some of the most active and vocal opponents of climate action in the world and have spread climate disinformation.

Fossil fuel lobbyists are spreading misinformation and obstructing elected governments’ climate efforts, going as far as promoting anti-democratic movements and candidates, and even undermining democratic rights, according to the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists.

Members of the scientists’ union conduct research on the world’s most pressing issues, fight misinformation and defend science, communicate with the media, the public, various decision-makers, and mobilise its 500,000 supporters to advocate for change.
For over 200 years, humanity has powered itself with fossil fuels like oil and coal. The world has witnessed an enormous amount of development and progress – but at an incredible cost, according to scientists.

When burnt, fossil fuels all release carbon dioxide, which acts like a blanket around the Earth. As the amount of carbon dioxide increases, the planet warms up, sea levels rise. Extreme weather becomes more commonplace. A whole range of impacts – from wildfires, flooding, to extreme heat and drought – become more likely and increasingly severe.

“If we do nothing, these impacts will worsen. Large swathes of the world’s population will likely migrate. Entire island nations may disappear. The magnitude and range of impacts means that almost every human on Earth will be affected, if they’re not already. Low-income communities and people of colour will be hit the hardest,” warns the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Change is still possible. Science suggests we can avoid the worst impacts of climate change if we limit warming to under 2 degrees Celsius. To do so we need a much cleaner economy by mid-century, if not sooner. Leaders need to act and enact policy, and fossil fuel companies need to stop preventing climate action.

Promoting misinformation

A group of experts writing for the Centre for American Progress claim that through a wide array of tactics, the multinational US$4 trillion fossil fuel industry has corrupted citizens’ understanding of the climate crisis and contributed to the erosion of democracy around the world.

The experts noted that the fossil fuel industry has done this first, by propagating deception and misinformation, polluting the information ecosystems essential for democracies to function, pushing open societies closer to the “post-truth” politics that allow authoritarianism to thrive.

Second, enabled in part by its misinformation campaigns, the industry has used its considerable financial and lobbying influence to bend policy to serve its own narrow interests instead of the public good. Fourth, they argue that the fossil fuel industry has directly undermined core democratic rights by filing unfounded lawsuits to silence critics, promoting draconian anti-protest laws, and supporting voter suppression efforts.

At COP28, all countries agree to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems but, 12 months later, emissions of warming gases increased once again- up by almost 1 per cent.

In the raging debate between fossil fuels and renewable energy, renewed spotlight was cast on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties, from UNFCCC COP 28 in Dubai, UAE in 2023 and last year at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, where host countries were accused of using the climate conferences to advance oil and gas deals.

Fossil fuel lobbyists had a heavy presence at COP28, with 2,456 granted access, raising eyebrows over the scale of oil and gas influence at the summit chaired by the UAE Sultan Al Jaber, the head of one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies.

Pro-fossil fuel lobbyists vying to push the interest of oil and gas companies such as Shell, Total and Exxon Mobil outnumbered every country delegation apart from Brazil (3,081), which will host COP30 in 2025, and the host country (4,409).

Climate obstruction

Global Witness reported that almost 1,800 fossil fuel lobbyists showed up at COP29, nearly 700 less than COP28 but more than delegates of the 10 most climate-vulnerable countries combined.

These are just the latest example of climate obstruction from the fossil fuel industry., whose spread of deceptive or misleading information about climate change hurts democracies by undermining public trust in governments, democratic processes, and even the notion of the objective truth itself, climate activists charge.

Within the climate change discussion, the fossil fuel industry – whose emissions are the dominant cause of global warming – has made a coordinated effort to spread climate disinformation and misinformation that prevents essential action to address climate change.

“Through a sophisticated lobbying ad public influence machine targeting lawmakers and citizens, the fossil industry has undemocratically shaped how the world thinks and talks about the climate crisis,” asserts the Union of Concerned Scientists.