The head of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development is set to address an event co-organized by the London School of Economics, where he is expected to harshly criticize the global disregard of the impending disaster of climate change.

Angel Gurria’s remarks have been leaked. In them, he compares the climate crisis to the global financial meltdown. Although the financial crisis tipped its hat before anyone bothered to do anything about it, the early warning signs of climate change — global drought, intensified hurricanes, food shortages, animal and human migrations — aren’t just suggestive of disaster, they are happening already. And unlike the financial debacle, “We do not have a ‘climate bailout option’ up our sleeves.”

BBC:

An OECD source said the secretary-general’s remarks were directed both at countries which had dragged their feet on reducing emissions and those which had taken a leadership position but were now starting to wobble.

Asked if the latter group included the UK, where the chancellor argued last week that Britain “should not be in front of the rest of the world” in tackling climate change, the source said the OECD was fully aware of the situation in Britain and all its member states.

Mr Gurria will also warn that renewable technologies will be harmed by stop-start policies. Renewables firms in the UK have benefited from a stable policy framework in the medium term, but are uncertain about long-term investments as right-wing Conservatives attempt to abandon CO2 targets for 2030, arguing that they damage competitiveness.

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— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer

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