Failure to address climate change

November 25, 2025

Adrian Rosenfeldt offers a philosophical perspective on the current brouhaha over ‘net zero’: the “net zero project” reflects “the deeper human philosophical desire for certainty rather than scientific necessity”…“What appears to be a neutral scientific framework rests on a false metaphysics: the belief that complex, uncertain realities can be mastered through perfect measurement and fixed ideals.”

The “neutral scientific framework” offered nations a rallying point and a goal on which to agree and work towards. This was not “false metaphysics”, more like nuts-and-bolts peace treaties, trade agreements and international cooperation agreements. It was not “moral arithmetic” but painstaking, historical scientific data. The breakthrough was that, for decades, this information was hidden by fossil fuel interests and scientists alike, for different reasons. The latter, having overseen a frightening lack of action, are now more outspoken about the risks.

Anxieties about change have been largely manufactured by vested interests in the industries causing the problem. The rational response to an existential crisis would be to tackle the causes. One such tactic might be to institute globally-recognised emissions-reduction targets. Far from “imposing order on uncertainty”, targets guide nations towards responsibility, towards dealing with an existential crisis scientists report with ever-expanding certainty.