The following piece is a letter that Jeremy Brown sent to MP and Energy Minister Claire Perry, highlighting the ethics of the climate crisis. Inspiration came from watching ‘Amazing Grace‘ – a film about William Wilberforce and his long struggle to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire.
A big thank you to Jeremy for sharing this letter to act as a guide, and ultimately inspiration, to writing and engaging our MPs; ensuring they remain conscious of, and act upon, the feelings of those that they are elected to represent.
The Rt Hon Claire Perry MP &
The Rt Hon Chris Skidmore
Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth
Department for Business, Energy, & Industrial Strategy
1 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0ET
5th June 2019
R.E. ETHICS OF NET ZERO CARBON BY 2050
Dear Claire,
Thank you very much for your reply dated 27th March to my MP (Dominic Raab), regarding the recommendations my father and I shared on climate change policy. Apologies for the delay in replying – it took me a while to reach the conclusion that I should now focus on the ethical implications of the proposed timetable of the UK reaching net zero carbon emissions.
I would firstly like to note how I was impressed by the level of detail in your initial reply, and it is encouraging to hear for example about the £7 billion increase in R&D funding. Equally, I was impressed by your heartfelt passion for the planet demonstrated during the parliamentary debate on whether to declare a climate and ecological emergency.
However, in this letter I set out why I believe it is a terrible injustice to postpone net zero emissions until 2050 – a moral responsibility which should not be delegated to well-meaning but overly technocratic bodies, such as the UK Climate Change Committee. I then propose a specific request for you to consider.
You will probably recall that Cyclone Idai hit the coast of Africa in March 2019, tragically claiming the lives of over 1,000 people in Mozambique and surrounding nations. This shows how the climate crisis is already catastrophic for much of the global south, with greenhouse gas concentrations being a clear culprit for the devastating intensity of rainfall.
Every extra molecule of CO2 and methane now raises the risk that even more lives will be lost. Therefore, I would suggest that delaying the abolition of carbon pollution until 2050 is somewhat akin to delaying the abolition of the slave trade by 20-25 years, to 1827-1832 (instead of 1807). Such an outcome would have prolonged the grotesque suffering of being shipped in blood-soaked chains across the Atlantic to a life of misery on the American plantations. If alive today, I can only imagine how William Wilberforce would react to the prospect that African citizens may once again have to endure decades of avoidable suffering in the name of British prosperity.
The injustice is also happening in our own country. For example, a recent meta-analysis from the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council reviewed 300 studies to conclude 28,000 premature deaths in the UK could be avoided through the abolition of fossil fuel burning. This includes fatalities from respiratory illness – as potentially the case with the tragic death of Ella Kissi-Debrah in a part of South London with illegal levels of air pollution.
In response, I would now like to know whether you would re-consider the timetable recommended by the Climate Change Committee, and instead enter dialogue with ordinary citizens, and groups such as the Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter. This would be focused on discussing the ethical case of reaching net zero carbon in 2025 (or at least 2030). Might this be possible?
I am aware that the Environment Secretary has already facilitated a helpful meeting with my fellow activists at the Extinction Rebellion, but it is still not clear the Cabinet (particularly the Prime Minister) has made any progress exploring a net zero date any earlier than 2050. Therefore, I hope you agree with the rationale for another meeting soon.
I look forwards to hearing from you soon on this matter of grave importance.
Yours Sincerely,
Jeremy Brown
MSci Graduate of Environmental Sciences, Current MA student of Climate Change at King’s College London, and Member of the Extinction Rebellion
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