Zero hour: how engineers hold the key to averting a climate catastrophe

On July 19^th 2022, temperatures in the UK exceeded 40°C for the first time. Following decades of warnings from the science community, the extreme weather associated with climate change and global heating is now here for all to see. From hellish wildfires in Australia and North America, to devastating floods in Pakistan and a drought-driven famine in Somalia that threatens up to 22 million in the region with starvation - the effects of the unfolding catastrophe are stark and terrifying.

Barely a month after those record UK temperatures, slapdash PM-in-waiting Liz Truss announced she would approve up to 130 new drilling licenses for oil and gas in the North Sea. Our global energy system has helped power enormous progress, lifting millions out of poverty and advancing civilisation in countless ways. But our inability to wean ourselves off fossil fuels has now become the biggest threat to that civilisation, as greenhouse gas emissions steadily push large parts of Earth towards unliveable conditions.