In her piece “Don’t dismiss the climate ‘blah, blah, blah,’” (Opinion, November 12) Gillian Tett is right to say of COP26 that “assumptions are changing in another important way: collaboration is now the norm. The Covid-19 pandemic prompted businesses to co-operate with each other — and government — in a manner that went out of fashion during the Reagan-Thatcher years. The same is true of the climate challenge.”
Last week, The Society of Chemical Industry hosted a young scientist debate at COP26 entitled “Countdown to Planet Zero” to showcase the young scientists who are working to combat climate change with chemistry. These scientists were drawn from established organisations as well start-ups, such as Brett Parkinson of C-Zero, a California-based start-up that works on the decarbonisation of natural gas, and Natasha Boulding, chief executive and co-founder of Sphera, a speciality materials company that has created carbon negative concrete blocks made from aggregate including waste plastic.
One point they all agreed on is that collaboration is critical to tackling the climate emergency. According to Boulding, “no one discipline has the answer to solve our biggest challenges — but together diverse minds can”.
Amid the “doom and gloom” messages of COP26, our audience viewed this as a breath of fresh air — with a poll revealing 100 per cent of people who viewed the debate live thought “science is pivotal in providing climate change solutions”.
So the “blah, blah, blah” in the title of Tett’s piece now shares space with another youth voice— that of pioneering young scientists, like our panellists. As they combine, the youth voice — and call to action — will be even stronger.
Sharon Todd
Chief Executive, Society of Chemical Industry
London SW1, UK
