Hot-button issue
The hot May this year is a reminder that kicking the can down the road is not an option
The heat wave that killed hundreds across India this May was not an isolated event. Climate scientists in the US have said this week that the world just saw the hottest May in 135 years.
This information has been released just after Pope Francis issued an encyclical urging the world to abandon fossil fuels.
The real solution to the climate challenge lies in new technology that will make other sources of energy more attractive compared with fossil fuels.
The fiscal strategy should focus on imposing higher taxes on carbon use rather than providing subsidies to alternative forms of energy. It is a subtle yet important difference.
All this will have to be backed by a global pact to limit the rise in temperatures. Such global agreement is tough.
Developing countries also have reason to worry whether they will have to abandon economic growth before mass poverty is abolished.
But the hot May this year is a reminder that kicking the can down the road is not an option.
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