Nature has sent us a terrible warning about our future – the fossil fuel industry is over

The climate column: The coronavirus threatens potentially 1 per cent of humanity, exacting a terrible price on the elderly and the vulnerable – just like the climate emergency is exacting a terrible price on the future of our young people, writes Donnachadh McCarthy

Flights around the world have been grounded as citizens are advised not to travel due to the coronavirus pandemic (AFP)

Extraordinary! A tiny microscopic organism was able to achieve what thousands of peaceful arrests, millions of protesters and decades of campaigning had failed to do.

All across the world, the roar of aeroplanes has been silenced, replaced by a hushed natural silence. Birdsong can be heard again. All over the world, the incessant droning of busy roads has ceased, and the frantic consumerism devouring what is left of nature has evaporated.

Just a week ago, I was railing about the Tarmac budget, in which the UK chancellor boasted about the £27bn being poured into surfacing another 6,500 kilometres of new roads, and the tax cuts he had given to more than 80 per cent of UK flights. More roads, more cars, more planes and more consumption was the message. Totally ignored was the message from the UN secretary general issued in September 2018, calling for radical cuts in CO2 emissions by the end of 2020 and warning that humanity faced an existential threat.