It is clear that human activities have significantly warmed the atmosphere, oceans, and land. Surface temperature measurements indicate a rise of approximately 1.1°C since the pre-industrial era. Each of the last three decades has been progressively warmer than its predecessor, with the seven warmest years on record occurring between 2015 and 2021. This warming trend has been more pronounced over land than over oceans and has accelerated at more than double the rate in the Arctic.
The UK is not immune to these global trends, experiencing increasing temperatures. The most recent decade (2012 to 2021) averaged 1.0°C warmer than the 1961 to 1990 average. All of the UK's ten warmest years have occurred since 2003, with 2022 marking the hottest year on record, surpassing an average year-round temperature of 10°C for the first time.
As climate change escalates from a global concern to a pressing emergency, dialogue and action on the matter have become indispensable. To advance discussions on climate change and sustainability, Asian Voice is hosting the "Be The Change" panel focused on the theme of "Climate Change". In collaboration with the Royal Air Force, this event will feature experts who will delve into sustainability practices, their diverse implications, and future directions. Central to the discussion will be the exploration of how various sectors of the economy can pave the way for environmentally favourable practices.
However, these topics represent only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to aspects factoring environmental conservation, and there are far more complex issues that also need addressing. While climate change is impacting the whole world, it has been found that people from ethnic minority communities in Britain face greater impacts from environmental crises compared to White British people. This disparity is primarily due to deep-seated societal inequities. Individuals from some ethnic minority groups are more likely to reside in low-income households, compounded by historical and systemic racism and inequities that have led to significant health disparities. The most pressing concerns for these communities, especially those in lower-income brackets, include air pollution, climate change, and environmental degradation.
With this article, Asian Voice highlights how climate change disproportionately affects ethnic minorities, explores the internal and external factors influencing the representation of these communities in the environmental sector, examines the Net Zero targets, and discusses the priorities of the incoming government in this regard.
The minority perspective
Growing up in Britain today, members of ethnic minority communities experience both immediate and lifelong impacts from environmental challenges. Chris Desai, a philanthropist and founder of global projects UOCEAN 2050 & UEARTH 2050, runs the largest BAME led environmental conservation charity in the UK. According to him, BAME communities are often not represented accurately or fairly. “This is due to a multitude of reasons. There are self-imposed barriers within the community where sustainability or conservation are not seen as legitimate career paths compared to professions like accounting, medicine, or law. It's crucial to provide access and opportunities”, he said.
He also highlighted the lack of representation of the ethnic minorities in the environmental sector. He shared that, “Recent reports from institutions like Oxford or Cambridge highlight that only 3% of the sustainability sector comprised ethnic minorities at one point, and this figure has marginally increased to between five and six percent this year. This percentage remains disproportionate to the overall BAME population in the UK.
“Many in our communities come from backgrounds of trauma as refugees or newcomers to a country, striving primarily for security. It's important to recognise that sustainability is not merely a national or racial concern but a global imperative. We can pursue professions like technology, engineering, or law with a sustainable focus, ensuring that economic security aligns with environmental responsibility.”
He is of the opinion that grassroots organisations can play a vital role by granting communities access to conservation resources, encouraging more people to pursue careers in sustainability and legitimising these career paths.
Esin Serin works with the LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) and is an Associate of the Productive and Inclusive Net Zero (PRINZ) project. She is a Policy Fellow working on UK energy and climate policy with a particular focus on sustainable growth, economic opportunities of Net Zero and decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors. She shared that the transition to a Net Zero economy also depends on ensuring that it is delivered in an inclusive way to gain and maintain public support.
“Government has a role in anticipating potential uneven impacts of the transition on different parts of society and providing targeted support to ensure fair outcomes. Deliberative democratic processes such as citizen juries and assemblies can be an important way of understanding such potential impacts and issues that the public are concerned with, and in turn, inform design of policies that are fair and secure broad public support”, she shared.
The evidence of the impact of climate change and declining nature on Britain’s ethnic minority communities is limited, mainly because it hasn’t been studied enough. Where evidence is available, it often provides comparative information, showing the experience of ethnic minority communities overall in comparison to White communities. In reality, experiences will vary between different ethnic minority communities, what is needed is more granular data and analysis to understand these nuances.
The urgency of climate emergency
Dr Jyotirmoy Roy is the founder of GreenEnco Ltd and was prevented from a harrowing fate as he narrowly missed the Chennai tsunami. That's why he believes that it is not merely climate change; it's an emergency. “We need to react to this situation with the urgency it demands. However, as a global community, we are not responding adequately. We're seeing fragmented efforts rather than a unified response. While some progress is being made, such as the Prime Minister's initiatives, the scale needed to mitigate the climate threat is still far from sufficient”, he said.
According to the World Bank, South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate shocks and the region is living through a “new climate normal.” Chris feels that the rest of the world needs to learn from the mistakes of the region. He points out that sustainability is an age old tradition in South Asia with maximised the use of every product, practicing regenerative agriculture and utilising banana leaves as plates, husks for bags, and shavings for various purposes. “They understood the concept of creating sustainable circularity”, he shares.
“We should reconsider the types of products we allow into our countries. For instance, India has become a dumping ground for the world's rubbish, with inadequate recycling facilities. Villages and communities without proper infrastructure end up using these products. Therefore, as a nation and as part of the global South, we should rethink our policies on imported goods, as our geographical location makes us disproportionately vulnerable”, he added.
The goal of achieving Net Zero
During the general election campaign, one of the prominent issues raised is whether parties will adhere to the UK's 2050 'Net Zero' greenhouse gas emissions target and their strategies to attain this goal.
Achieving Net Zero entails maintaining a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and their removal from the atmosphere through natural processes like photosynthesis or other carbon capture and storage methods, resulting in a Net Zero presence of these gases in the atmosphere. However, the pledges presented by different parties indicate that climate change is not a top urgent priority for any political party.
According to Dr Jyotirmoy, every major country has set a Net Zero target these days, but the realism of these plans is a big question mark. “Take the UK as an example, there's significant investment ready to flow into renewables and stakeholders prepared to execute projects. However, a fundamental challenge remains in achieving this Net Zero target. Does the UK grid have sufficient capacity to handle the new distributed generation, which is dynamic due to the intermittent nature of sun and wind?
“Balancing these diverse generation portfolios and upgrading grid capacity to facilitate this uptake of new generation technologies presents a substantial gap. Addressing this infrastructure gap requires policy intervention at governmental levels. This critical aspect is currently missing. The Net Zero target is in place, but when examining it at a granular level, there are significant gaps in the individual structures needed to achieve this goal.”
Esin, on the other hand, believes that the UK has already made important progress towards the path of sustainable growth by decoupling its economic growth from emissions. Part of this transition has involved a shift from a manufacturing-heavy to a services-heavy economy. “Additionally, emissions reductions in the electricity sector, achieved by moving away from coal and rapidly expanding renewable energy sources, have also played a crucial role. If the UK wants to be on a truly sustainable growth path, it needs to be even faster at adopting clean, efficient technologies to move its own economy towards Net Zero emissions while building domestic supply chains to tap into growing markets for these technologies and associated services around the world.
“There are many specific measures in the Net Zero policy toolkit that the UK can draw on as it works to achieve its Net Zero targets including carbon pricing, standards and regulations, consumer grants, R&D funding and skills programmes. At an overarching level, the government needs to ensure these specific measures are all pointing in the same direction of achieving Net Zero, working consistently and ensuring the long-term certainty that private sector investors require. Ideally this should be in the form of a new growth strategy with Net Zero at its core.”
Blind spots and the responsibility of the incoming government
A lack of action on climate change will be catastrophic for future generations, making it imperative for the incoming government to "bring environmental matters to the forefront." Earlier this month, academics warned that if party leaders do not prioritize the climate, they jeopardize our future prosperity and wellbeing.
Dr Jyotirmoy feels that on close examination, none of the policies that were proposed by major parties, address any fundamental issue in the society. He explained that, “While people in power acknowledge clean tech and the climate emergency, these issues are not prioritised as major concerns. Before we proceed, we must consider the impact of unpredictable weather conditions and increased flooding events in the UK. The costs associated with rectifying these damages are escalating, resulting in significantly higher costs for recovery and repair.
“It's crucial to reassess our approach holistically, not just from an economic standpoint. While economic development is essential for any country's survival and progress, we must recognise that investing in renewable sectors can foster economic growth too.”
On the same matter, Chris adds, “Personally, I see that the parties are driven by economic growth, greed, and popularity — all centred around votes. I strongly believe that nature inherently holds more value than any economic pursuit. Parties need to recognise this fundamental truth. Those that prioritise nature will ultimately succeed because they are placing value where it truly matters.”
He believes that the incoming government should prioritise public health above all else. “When we have a nation suffering from pollution and poor-quality food, and when poverty rates among children and disadvantaged communities are high, we must focus on community well-being. Shifting towards local conservation and local produce can make a significant impact.
“Instead of treating sustainability as a separate agenda, it should be integrated into every policy, sector, and business. This shift in mentality is crucial because while climate change affects the globe, our focus should be on transforming how sustainability is embedded across all aspects of society.”
Of the two main contenders for No. 10, Labour promises a "Green Prosperity Plan," which includes setting up Great British Energy to drive the move to renewables. The Conservatives, on the other hand, claim that under their leadership, Britain became the first major economy to halve emissions and will continue to meet targets without "clobbering" households.
How well these parties deliver on their promises remains to be seen.
