Putting the world on a carbon neutral pathway will cost money, but not as much as the benefits it brings. The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that the longer we delay, the greater the level of resulting warming. Every degree of warming equates to more risk, especially for the poor and most vulnerable. Deferring mitigation pushes the costs up and that is bad economics for everyone.

The IPCC reports also warn that economic models are not very good at capturing the full range of impacts. For example, climate action produces significant ‘co-benefits’, such as reducing air pollution that contributes to around 3.7 million deaths each year – this is not taken into account in mitigation costs analyses (see the IPCC report Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability).

Economic models also do not apply a climate justice lens. The costs of mitigation action and the costs of inaction (i.e. impacts from climate change) are not borne by everyone equally. Climate impacts will hit poorest people the hardest. In the real world, human beings and sovereign states have rights that cannot be ‘traded off’ as is done in economic models. It is not appropriate to put their loss of life, diminished human rights and threats to sovereignty on the same footing as potential economic losses by major carbon-emitting countries and polluters. Yet in climate policy circles, the existential threat faced by poor people and vulnerable countries is often put on a par with the existential challenge of carbon-intensive business models.

Countries that are currently carbon intensive have far more resources, and therefore choices. They must face up to the need to develop new business models as part of the challenge of the world going carbon neutral. One route that could solve climate change and contribute to climate justice might be to impose a mandatory duty to increase access to 100 per cent renewable energy on all major energy providers, focusing on the 1.3 billion people in the world today who lack access to modern energy.

As Ambassadors of EcoGen, Go for it! Lots of wonderful apps and online calculators already exist to identify the carbon footprint for the journeys we make, the food we eat, and the events we attend or organise. Using these tools makes you realise that there is a lot you can do already to bring down emissions. But it also makes you realise the limits of what an individual can do! So don’t forget to push climate leadership in whatever way you can. Last week I attended a meeting in Eastern Sierra Leone where local residents discussed how to set up a community energy company (everyone invests a small amount of money and the company buys solar panels and installs them on roofs, generating local jobs and tackling fuel poverty along the way). But these initiatives need stronger national and international climate policies to help them thrive. My advice is to also give your leaders and ministers a gentle nudge to become carbon-neutral champions, and adopt policies to help make the transition to that world easier, fun and more just.