Leading article: A melting ice-cap, and a fragile world

And still the evidence mounts. Scientists who use satellites to study the earth's polar regions yesterday revealed that last year the Arctic lost 14 per cent of its "perennial" sea ice - ice which is at least 3 metres thick and survives through at least one summer. The rate at which it melted last year was 18 times the rate it has been shrinking in recent decades. This is another significant indicator that global warming is proceeding far faster than even the gloomiest scientists though possible just a few years ago.

Of course, this exceptional melting could be a anomaly caused by the unusual wind patterns which occurred in 2005. Perhaps. But consider the other evidence. Last year was the warmest summer in the northern polar region for 400 years. The Arctic is now warming twice as fast as the rest of the earth. Some fear we have passed a point of no return. Such a tipping point may have passed with the Siberian permafrost, whose peat-bogs are thawing, starting the release of massive quantities of trapped methane.

Then there are the signals from the rest of the planet. This year saw the hottest day ever recorded in the British Isles. Some 90 per cent of the world's glaciers have retreated since 1995. Everywhere there are more floods and droughts. Rainfall is decreasingly predictable and millions are at increased risk of starvation. Throughout Africa crops are failing. Environmental refugees are on the move as their low-lying homes in places like Bangladesh are washed away. Diseases are spreading as insects move to areas once too cold for them.

It is time for action to reduce the emission of the greenhouse gases which are causing all this. Britain has a dual role to play here. Though the UK is responsible for only 2 per cent of the world's emissions, domestically we need to set an example on curbing climate change.

As a nation we are making some progress. Businesses are beginning to see an economic advantage in being ahead of the game. And industry has also learnt that early adoption of new low-carbon technologies can bring advantages as cutting-edge products and services move rapidly into the mainstream. The Government has made some progress on creating the regulatory framework which will encourage all this to grow, through measures such as the EU emissions trading scheme which ought to enable the UK to save 8 million tons of CO₂ under its next phase.

The Government now needs to implement some of the recommendations of its own energy review. We need to extend the renewables obligation, so that the proportion of our energy we get from renewable sources like wind and solar power rises from a pitiful 4 per cent at present to 20 per cent and more over the next two decades. We need to make appliances less wasteful by changing product standards - which could, alone, knock 5 million tonnes off the projected increase in emissions. We need more smart metering and billing to bring home to consumers the savings of energy efficiency. We need more public education to inform householders that if they replaced just three ordinary light bulbs with energy efficient ones the energy saved would provide all the energy for Britain street lights.

If we can demonstrate to the world that cutting emissions is not incompatible with economic growth, then we may be able to persuade the big polluters like the United States, India and China - which is at present planning 600 more coal-fired power stations by 2030 - that curbing climate change is not a utopian option. What the news from the Arctic ice cap tells us is that we have less time to do that than we thought.

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