Thread by @bopinion

If you’re a politician accused of short-term thinking, here’s a strategy:

Set a bold policy goal and a deadline far enough in the future that you can be sure you will no longer be in office bloom.bg/32O6cAX

There are plenty of examples:

🚬End smoking by 2030 in England
🚗Amsterdam plans to ban all polluting vehicles by 2030
🌍Von der Leyen has called for a 55% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030
🌳Net zero U.K. carbon emissions by 2050 bloom.bg/32O6cAX

If these goals were backed by binding legislation, that would be a real accomplishment.

Instead, future leaders can drop the ball without much blowback bloom.bg/32O6cAX

🚭In 2015, the U.K. aimed for a smoke-free generation by 2025, meaning just 5% of the adult population would smoke.

🚬16.6% of British adults still do today and it’s not clear why two-thirds of them might quit within the next six years bloom.bg/32O6cAX

Last year, Germany’s politicians agreed to water down the target of reducing emissions by 40% from their 1990 level by 2020.

Now the goal is to merely “reduce the gap” between reality and the target set in 2002 bloom.bg/32O6cAX

Fossil fuel car bans probably await the same fate: France saw a 44.3% year-on-year increase in electric vehicle sales in the first quarter of 2019.

🚘At that rate, it could phase out internal combustion engines by 2030 bloom.bg/32O6cAX

But it's not clear what France is doing to maintain that rate.

If that drops to 15%, it’d take until 2048 for all new car sales to be electric. A ban on petrol and diesel cars would do it, but would be politically difficult bloom.bg/32O6cAX

There’s no harm in looking far into the future, but big headline pledges are counterproductive.

Hitting climate goals sooner requires sustained political courage. It looks like current governments lack it bloom.bg/32O6cAX