Climate change has grown in past decades from the concerns of environmentalists into mainstream politics and the agendas of global companies. Today climate change is mentioned almost every day in the news, with each week bringing a policy promise or new global business direction.

Unlike many believe, the understanding of the importance of action on climate change has been relatively certain in the scientific community for years now. The debate of anthropogenic global warming has been over for even longer. Yet it’s the transition from scientific knowledge to a community issue of great importance that we need in order to see significant and meaningful change.

In the mid-1800s, when theories were first being developed, there was much contention around whether the Earth was even warming or cooling. Ice Age Theory was the first true theory on climate change, proposing that the Earth has a cycle of warm and cold periods due to rotation around the Sun. The 19th century was all about discovery, with the term ‘greenhouse’ coined to describe the effect of atmospheric gases and the idea of damaging fossil fuels was proposed.

Yet this was a time when technology and large scientific discoveries that are now perceived as “common knowledge” were changing world views. The 1800s marked the era of the first battery and the discovery of plant cells along with germ theory and Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. In light of these monumental discoveries, the idea that the planet’s temperature could change a few degrees seemed insignificant. It received no attention aside from the individuals working directly in the field.

It took until well into the 1900s for the science around climate change to become more structured, starting with a text outlining all climate theories being published in 1949. From there, the scientific community around climate change began to grow, slowly at first and then increasing pace after the 60s, with the first landmark meeting ‘Causes of Climate Change’ held in Colorado.

The perceived public importance of climate change grew in conjunction with the environmental movement of the 70s. Starting with the first Earth Day in 1970, the issue of climate change was brought more to the focus of the public with the help of significant droughts in Africa, India and Ukraine. The moon landing a number of years earlier also solidified the importance and uniqueness of our one and only Planet Earth. This period was accompanied with a growing consensus among scientists on climate change.

Unfortunately, in the late 70s when scientists were forming a consensus around global warming as opposed to cooling, certain industries began fighting back. Large polluting companies that relied on fossil fuels and minimal regulation began understanding the importance of maintaining uncertainty about climate change. They effectively funded scientific studies contradicting the overwhelming conclusion that global warming was occurring and was, in fact, anthropogenic. This strategy has had long-term effects. The term ‘climate change debate’ is still heard today when, scientifically, it was over decades ago.

Politics entered the climate change fray in the early 80s with the election of Reagan and have remained since. Initially the political climate was hostile toward global warming. Any acknowledgement of global warming became an attack against the politician who denied it. This lead to damaging attacks on the validity of the science from political figures. Never having completely recovered, climate change to this day remains as much a political issue as a scientific one.

While the debate on the existence of global warming had effectively ended for the scientific community years earlier, another debate raged on. This debate, on whether there would be significant detrimental effects from the heating of the planet, continued until the third Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report was published in 2001. The report confirmed that significant negative effects from climate change are imminent unless drastic measures are taken by global leaders in both government and industry.

Stepping back to the late 90s, governments began making promises and commitments but were yet to act on them to make a meaningful difference. The Rio Earth Summit and the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) helped to keep the issue on the public radar, but made little concrete progress for many years.

Luckily, with the new millennium came change. Governments took the hint and have been making meaningful headway on commitments. Despite their slow start, global leaders are now taking action. The global mindset has reach a point where global leaders that do not openly acknowledge climate, change and are not putting plans in place to mitigate it, are harshly criticised. Most recently, the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was condemned by President Barak Obama for his lack of action on the matter. Regulation around pollution is steadily increasing and public expectations for private companies are only going up.

Recently, large global businesses have initiated their own action, independent of government regulation. From IKEA pledging 1 billion euros to The Bank of America recommending a divestment from coal, the global stance on climate change has shifted significantly. Possibly nothing exemplifies this more than GM, a company that has fought global warming and vehemently supported fossil fuels, who have called for the US government for unite and work together to fight climate change.

Over the space of 150 years, climate change has gone from a topic overshadowed by scientific advancements from the likes of Charles Darwin and Louis Pasteur to an issue of global importance. Slowly but steadily, advancing from scientific theory to the world stage of politics and business, climate change has become an issue for everyone to take notice of. From businesses acknowledging increasing regulation to the public’s purchasing power, everyone is now involved in climate change in one way or another.

The social maturity is expected to be driven up dramatically over the coming months because between now and Paris conference of the parties in December 2015 it’s expected that there will be a significant increase in the number of companies that make pledges to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. Currently the total pledges add up to 3.6 degree climate change, which would be catastrophic for humanity, so there’s a push to see pledges drive to a 2 degree outcome urgently.

Published 18/09/2015