Only one-and-a-half years ago, many people believed that the jury was still out on the science of climate change. That perception changed dramatically with the publication of a series of United Nations-co-ordinated reports about the phenomenon. Two-and-a-half thousand leading scientists clearly indicated that climate change was unequivocal, quite definitely caused by humankind and already happening – with dire effects just around the corner should drastic action not be taken very soon.

In the same year, British economist Lord Nicholas Stern said that climate change was set to become the widest-ranging market failure ever seen, on a par with both world wars and the Great Depression combined. Acting on climate change suddenly became an economic necessity, no longer a choice.