It should not be controversial to say a population of 8 billion will have a grave impact on the climate | John Vidal

It's time to ditch the generations-long argument between those who blame overpopulation and those who worry about consumption

• John Vidal is a former Guardian environment editor

By a remarkable coincidence, just as governments, campaigners and business owners are meeting in Egypt to address climate breakdown today, the world is officially crashing past the symbolic 8 billion population milestone . This means global population is on its way to 10 billion or more by the turn of the century.

But there will be no attempt by countries at Cop27 to connect the inexorable growth of human numbers with the seemingly unstoppable rise in temperatures. Despite the fact that the several billion more people expected to be alive in 70 years' time will put more pressure on resources and will produce far more emissions, the population explosion is yet again being ignored, sidestepped or denied by world leaders.

John Vidal was the Guardian's environment editor. He is the author of McLibel: Burger Culture on Trial

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