COP31 Launches Global Climate March Push as UN Chief Urges Electric Economy Shift

Today United for the Future launches at COP31 today with a plan to unite 100 million people in peaceful, non-partisan marches in cities worldwide. Their goal is to assemble the largest coordinated climate demonstration in history in order to put climate action back at the top of the political agenda.

Backers of the initiative include Christiana Figueres, former UN climate chief and a key architect of the Paris Agreement; Bill McKibben, author and co-founder of 350.org; Ram Ramanathan of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego; and Sandrine Dixson-Declève, honorary president of the Club of Rome.

Together, they beckon citizens around the world: “Protect our future. Act on the science.” Their call asks governments to stop weakening climate protections and to deliver action that cuts emissions and protects nature in line with science.

Limiting temperature rise to a 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above the preindustrial levels of the early 1800s was a goal established during the 2015 Paris Agreement. Since then, it’s been a focus of international climate negotiations, and one that’s often been politically contentious.

“For too many people, climate change is deadly,” UN climate chief Simon Stiell said at COP31. “At this COP, nations face a choice: electric or shock. Rewire the global economy for the electric age. Or accept ongoing fossil fuel cost pain for families, firms, and governments.”

Bringing Science Home to the US

Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels are projected to decrease by 0.4% in 2026, driven by expansion of solar and wind power and the Iran conflict, according to new research by the Global Carbon Project.

Then there’s the recent blue tsunami that took place in the US midterm elections, which served as a condemnation of the Trump administration. Historian and activist Rebecca Solnit exclaims, “It was a dam breaking, the dam that held back the will of the people, the people of the world’s most diverse country, the people who believed in their own rights and equality and in the rights and equality of others.”

Now, through promised agendas to increase affordability for consumers, Democrats have a keen opportunity to foreground science as a way to accomplish goals. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) admonishes the new Democratic majority to deliver on its campaign jargon. “No more empty rhetoric. No more telling us how terrible Trump and the Republicans are. No more excuses,” he says. “We now have the votes to pass legislation that will demonstrably improve the lives of millions of working families. And that’s what we must do.”

Sanders insists that the time is now to “act boldly.” Democrats can create millions of good-paying jobs, he continues, “by moving our energy systems away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.”

David Fickling outlines in Bloomberg this week that renewables have already made tremendous headway, to the point that “sometimes, change comes at you so fast that you forget to congratulate yourself on what you’ve achieved.”

In 2025 clean energy sources generated nearly the same amount of electricity as the entire world consumed in 1996. About half of that electricity, Fickling continues, was sourced from wind and solar power.

“Instead of concentrating on squeezing the final tons of carbon from electricity,” he offers, “governments need to make abundant clean power cheap enough to drive fossil fuels out of everything else — in particular, electric cars and trucks, home heating systems, and the sort of low-temperature heat used in food and paper manufacturing.”

In that new cohort of leaders is William Lawrence, co-founder of the climate action movement, Sunrise. The Michigan Democrat flipped a House seat and sees clean energy as a way to fulfill campaign promises.

He describes clean energy tax credits as a good place to start.

“It’s a huge issue not just for the climate, but for our energy security,” he states. Climate is as important to energy security as it’s ever been, he tells Claire Brown of the New York Times.” People are experiencing the rising costs of fuel due to the war and volatility around the world. And we can all see the value of being able to have cheap, clean renewable energy that doesn’t depend on the global commodity markets.”

The Impact of Scientists on Everyday Life

Several scientists and physicians were elected to the US Congress as part of the reinvigoration of science at the federal level. “The importance of having scientists, engineers, and health professionals in national, state, and local political positions cannot be overstated,” relates Deborah D. Stine, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology during the Obama administration. “If the policy question is outside their own expertise, they know how to call on the best experts.”

The incoming scientists represent “a real repudiation of what has been two terrible years for science and public health,” Shaughnessy Naughton, president of 314 Action, chronicles for Alexander Nazaryan of the New York Times.

Where will the US Congress go from here? Rebecca Solnit muses, “What comes after hope, when hope is realized, when hope is no longer necessary?”

Clean energy expert Steve Hanley has an answer to that question. “The guiding star for all policy decisions going forward should be reducing carbon and methane emissions.”

Did you know that electric motors convert 90% of the energy they consume into motion, while an internal combustion engine converts less than 30%? Not everyone is aware of the efficiency of electrifying everything, though. Some scientists are already talking about the important need to draw in a new generation of clean energy advocates among Republicans in Congress and everyday life.

“In almost all circumstances, electrification is a good thing,” says Chris Bowen, Australia’s minister of climate change and energy and COP31’s president of negotiations.

Now we’ll see if Congress can translate political subterfuge into clean energy reality.