"Climate change denial is evil, says Mary Robinson", 26 Mar 2019

The denial of climate change is not just ignorant, but "malign and evil", according to Mary Robinson, because it denies the human rights of the most vulnerable people on the planet. The former UN high commissioner for human rights and special envoy for climate change also says fossil fuel companies have lost their social licence to explore for more coal, oil and gas and must switch to become part of the transition to clean energy... "Climate change undermines the enjoyment of the full range of human rights – from the right to life, to food, to shelter and to health. It is an injustice that the people who have contributed least to the causes of the problem suffer the worst impacts of climate change." [says Robinson]... Robinson told the Guardian her angry words were the result of seeing the impact on people's lives. "In Africa, I saw the devastating impacts on poor farmers, villagers and communities when they could not predict when the rainy season was going to come..." She says exploration for new reserves must end, given that most of existing reserves must be kept in the ground if global warming is to be tackled.

Robinson condemns the UK government for the £4.8bn support given by its export finance body for fossil fuels from 2010-16... The US president, Donald Trump, is also criticised by Robinson for his "egregious act of climate irresponsibility" in withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement... In November, the New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said: "Smoking kills people, and tobacco companies that tried to confuse the public about that reality were being evil. But climate change isn't just killing people; it may well kill civilisation. Trying to confuse the public about that is evil on a whole different level. Don't some of these people have children?"