The author is a former French minister of labor and ex-ambassador at the OECD.
Drying rivers, burning forests, record temperatures — this summer has offered multiple reminders of the sheer scale of the planetary climate crisis. People are suffering and calling on others to take action.
Unfortunately, many governments around the world have tried to manage this global warming catastrophe by taking short-term steps. It is not enough to treat the symptoms. As the crisis continues to intensify, the long-term approach must change.
This is not an unavoidable emergency. According to the Club of Rome, the first report on economic growth in 1972 showed that there would be a sharp drop of global population by 2100 because of pollution, scarcity of energy resources, and impoverishment of arable land. This warning was issued 50 years ago. The trends that were predicted 50 years ago are now being felt.
Since more than 30 year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s annual reports have warned of the acceleration in global warming and the devastating ecological, social, and economic consequences it poses. The danger of global warming is immense. We can still adapt and mitigate the risk of global warming.
The 2015 Paris Agreement and subsequent UN conferences on climate led to strong commitments by states. But is a warning system and a political commitment enough?
Obviously not — because we are failing to measure the effectiveness of public policies in this area, which limits their impact and improvement. We must be more efficient.
Global warming presents a challenge for governments and the global economy. Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England, has called it the “tragedy of horizon”. How can we reconcile these different time horizons?
There are many questions to be answered. How can we bridge the gap between the short-term financial interests and the long-term environmental interests? How and at what speed can we transfer the energy model that created the wealth in developed countries without reducing the quality of life?
How can we manage this transformation while ensuring that the lowest price is paid by the most vulnerable, even though access to energy (for transport and housing, heating, and travel) will be more costly? How to anticipate the challenges of mobility and skills when hundreds of million of jobs will change their nature or locations? How to “upskill” and reskill oil or coal workers to become maintenance technicians in nuclear or renewable energies?
The OECD created a program to evaluate and benchmark the effectiveness public policies in fighting global warming. It was established by the French government on May 20, 2021. The International Climate Action Programme is designed to support countries’ efforts to achieve the Paris Agreement goals. Drawing on a “wealth of international climate-related data”, the IPAC assesses national and international policies aimed at achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, providing recommendations and sharing best practices.
As France’s permanent representative to the OECD, I had the chance to support and negotiate this project with the 37 other member states. We demanded that the IPAC be integrated with economic and social indicators, as the interaction of these factors will determine the success or failure of the policies.
The IPAC’s principal objective is to publish a first global report in 2023, based on an annual scoreboard with a small number of structural indicators to assess climate action and issue recommendations that will feed into public debate and inform the decisions of key performers.
This is especially important given the current energy crisis. In the short-term, many countries are less ambitious in reducing fossil fuel consumption to protect their people and their industries.
This debate is especially acute in the OECD, where some nations argue that the IPAC’s transparency is no longer appropriate, at most for the short term.
I disagree. It is crucial to establish a solid foundation to manage this difficult phase as efficiently as possible and to accelerate the longer-term fight against global warming. We will not make progress unless we are able to measure the effectiveness of the policies we adopt — now and in the future.
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