Deji Olayinka, South West London Socialist Party
2022 was officially the UK’s hottest year on record. The Met Office has confirmed that climate change has driven the UK into its first year with an average temperature above 10°C.
There’s no sign of this letting up as we enter 2023, with a January heatwave that’s affected 15 European countries. 1 January 2023 was the hottest ever recorded in eight countries. Scientists are particularly worried that it’s been 4-5°C hotter than previous records.
This may be a temporary relief for our wallet, given the rise in energy prices, but the environmental costs are massive.
Last year’s COP27 climate summit, like its predecessors, failed to deliver the changes needed to save our planet. Corporations won’t make the necessary changes because it would harm their short-term profits. Capitalist nations aren’t willing or able to impose the changes needed to save our planet, because they know polluting companies would just move their operations elsewhere.
Rishi Sunak didn’t even mention climate change in his first speech of the year. But it is on the minds of the capitalists.
Corporations are ‘greenwashing’ their brands. Their profit-driven system can’t solve climate change.
With Environment Agency workers set to strike over pay, it’s clear the Tories won’t put the money where it’s needed. Labour’s proposal for ‘GB Energy’ to compete in the capitalist market is not enough.
We need full nationalisation of the energy industry, major banks and commanding heights of the economy. That would allow us to implement a democratic socialist planned economy that could reorientate the scientific and engineering skills of the working class towards the goal of solving the environmental crisis, and improving the lives of workers across the globe.
