climate crisis
(Image: AAP/ Lukas Coch)

Yes, the atmospheric climate is changing. But here at Crikey we think something just as potent has happened over recent months: finally, the social and political climate that informs the climate change debate is being transformed.

So what has changed this year?

  • The federal government has ended its climate denial rhetoric — a symbolic but telling response to public outrage at its inaction.
  • The world’s biggest mining company, Glencore, has announced a retreat from coal mining.
  • The Reserve Bank has formally declared that climate change is a fundamental economic risk.
  • School kids are marching in the streets around the globe.

That’s on top of the unambiguous, active support for action on climate change from just about every reputable institution, industry and profession: the courts, scientists, the military, the insurance industry, the accounting profession, NASA, meteorologists, most big public companies. (All except for one institution, of course: News Corp.)

Yes, the climate is changing irrevocably. That’s why it’s the only subject we’re writing about at Crikey today.

Read our full series, Slow Burn, here.