After decades of inaction, world leaders seem to be getting serious about climate change. Last week, US President Joe Biden held a virtual summit with 40 countries that saw many upping their climate commitments. Australia, however, steadfastly beat the same worn-out drum, and spruiked technology solutions rather than better climate targets.

Despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s lack of ambition (and the steady stream of bad news about the environment), we actually have reasons to be optimistic about our future under climate change. And it’s not just me saying that. Our top story today is from an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lead author and a climate communication researcher, who argue there are now more reasons for optimism on climate change than we’ve seen for decades.

Climate science is more detailed than ever, support for climate action is swelling, and policy makers are finally starting to take both the science and public will for action seriously. Not to mention business and finance are generally on board, too.

As Gabi Mocatta and Rebecca Harris write, we can thank student strikers for “setting off the first domino” that helped get us where we are today.

But world leaders must make good on their promises. This decade will be our last chance to elude catastrophic temperature rise and the disasters it will bring.

Anthea Batsakis

Deputy Editor: Environment + Energy

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More reasons for optimism on climate change than we’ve seen for decades: 2 climate experts explain

Gabi Mocatta, University of Tasmania; Rebecca Harris, University of Tasmania

For the first time, political will and global public opinion seem focused on profound climate action. This decade will be a decisive one.

Richard Wainwright/AAP Image

Here we go again — Perth’s snap lockdown raises familiar hotel quarantine questions

Hassan Vally, La Trobe University

Another city, another snap lockdown, and another round of asking whether it will successfully prevent disaster this time, or whether the coronavirus has already spread undetected through the community.

AAP/Lukas Coch

10 years after Finkelstein, media accountability in Australia has gone backwards

Denis Muller, The University of Melbourne

Media regulation in Australia has always been weak, fragmented and lacking in public visibility. It has also never had a government bold enough to do anything about it.

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Vaccinating the highest-risk groups first was the plan. But people with disability are being left behind

Helen Dickinson, UNSW; Anne Kavanagh, The University of Melbourne

During the height of the pandemic, people with disability felt they had been forgotten and were not a priority. In the vaccine rollout, the government is repeating its past mistakes.

Tjapukai Shaw, the Air Force’s Indigenous liaison officer, on an outreach mission to Indigenous communities in a remote part of NSW in 2019. DAN HIMBRECHTS/AAP

With Dutton in defence, the Morrison government risks progress on climate and Indigenous affairs

James Blackwell, UNSW; Kate Clayton, La Trobe University

These issues matter to our strategic allies, particularly in the Pacific. Dutton's climate change scepticism and attitudes toward First Nations people could have a damaging effect.

EmiliaUngur/Shutterstock

Post-JobKeeper, unemployment could head north of 7%: here’s why

Roger Wilkins, The University of Melbourne

With the end of JobKeeper come changes that will force more people to search for work.

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Loss of two-thirds of volunteers delivers another COVID blow to communities

Amanda Davies, The University of Western Australia; Kirsten Holmes, Curtin University; Leonie Lockstone-Binney, Griffith University

At one time more than one in three Australians did volunteer work. Only one in five are now doing so, but there are some positive signs as volunteering organisations adapt to changing times.

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