We have been mopping the floor for 30 years. But we never turned off the tap. Now there are grounds for optimism.
There is a new appetite for activism. “It is the highest it has ever been”, especially if redirected through arts and culture. That is the new positive message on climate from serial activist Kumi Naidoo, President of the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative.
Eighty six percent of emissions still come from fossil fuels. The root cause remains intact. What we debate are symptoms.
But there are new positives. Activism and mobilisation are making an impact. It is “the highest it has ever been”.
Kumi argues the climate crisis is not simply environmental. It is systemic. An economic system built on extraction. An energy system built on combustion. A political system often shaped by concentrated wealth. Those suffering first and most are contributing least.
He is equally blunt about communication. The movement talks in parts per million and temperature targets. But people respond to loss, to children, to futures.
A funeral for a glacier in Iceland generated more resonance than countless policy briefings. Why? Because it connected emotionally.
Alongside better storytelling through arts and culture, Kumi sees growing momentum for structural change. The Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative is gaining endorsements from governments, cities and thousands of civil society groups.
Is it enough? Not yet.
But he believes the appetite for deep systemic change is higher than at any point in recent memory.
Pessimism, he says, is a luxury we cannot afford.
The core question is whether leaders move from maintaining the system to redesigning it before time runs out. Kumi believes that a new spirit of activism and collaboration means this is now achievable.
Kumi Naidoo
Kumi Naidoo is a South African human rights and environmental justice activist with decades of experience in global advocacy. He played a key role in the anti-apartheid movement and has since become a leading voice on climate justice, inequality, and civic freedoms.
He has served as Secretary-General of Amnesty International and Executive Director of Greenpeace International, working at the intersection of human rights and environmental protection. Naidoo is widely recognised for his leadership in mobilising global action and speaking truth to power.
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