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No doubt, 2009 was one of the most challenging years in recent memory. Much that we took for granted changed under our feet. From giants of industry testing and breaking the ‘too big to fail’ hypothesis to the global financial system unravelling before our eyes, 2009 reminded us that change will come whether we like it or not. The best we can do is to be prepared.

While most of the world is recovering from the economic slump, hundreds of thousands of those who lost jobs still struggle. And millions more, who do not have access to the very basics of sustenance, continue to exist on the fringes of our consciousness. Though the economic recovery is underway, that is not what we will remember 2009 for; it will always be the year where we tried, and failed, to achieve a comprehensive global deal to combat climate change.

Climate change is the definitive challenge of our lifetime. Even as the debate plays out in the media, most of us do not see climate change as a clear and present danger. But the fact is it will impact our lives, and for millions it already has. Radical changes in weather patterns are now common. From parched farmlands to flooded cities, extreme weather events occur at an ever-increasing frequency. Melting glaciers, drying rivers and rising oceans are all well-documented fact. They have our attention, but do they have our commitment to action?

During the 15th conference of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) in December, the issue of climate change dominated the international agenda for two weeks. But sadly, we are back to the business of living. We forget climate change is not a headline, a clever website or a plea to save polar bears; it is a clear and present threat to the world. We need it to be a global priority. And we must act in concert to reverse it. COP15 was supposed to deliver this message. But it did not. It was intended to deliver a globally binding contract to cut emissions to stop and reverse global warming; it did not. It produced an ‘accord’ that nations took note of. Unfortunately, the changing climate will not pause to take note. Politics won in Copenhagen, people did not. But the future is not all fire and doom. I am an optimist; 2009 showed us how far politics could go; 2010 is the time to act.

The 20th century brought unimaginable progress. But this has not been without a price — carbon emissions — that must be paid if not today, then certainly tomorrow. The march of progress has been the defining quality of mankind, as has been fighting for the greater good. Today, the greater good is to protect the future of the world by recognising and mitigating the carbon cost. A key trip wire to check this change is to cap the temperature rise to under 2°C between 2000-levels and 2050. We can only achieve this by limiting emissions. For this, we need an energy revolution; one we have already started.