Here’s the truth about Sunak’s plans for the North Sea: he will sell out the planet to the dirtiest bidders | George Monbiot

Despite grave new warnings about the depth of the climate crisis, plutocrats are fighting to keep their profits - and our PM is with them

To understand this moment, we have to recognise that there is an existential struggle on both sides. While environmental scientists and activists fight for the very survival of the habitable planet, the fossil fuel, meat and internal combustion industries are fighting for their economic survival. Either they are regulated out of existence or human society across much of the world will fail. We cannot all win: either these industries survive or we do. But we can all lose, because, eventually, they will go down with the rest of us.

But eventually" counts for nothing in their spreadsheets and annual reports. Eventually" has no effect on share prices and dividends. Eventually" has little traction in a four- or five-year political cycle. So, as the evidence of climate breakdown becomes undeniable to all but the most deluded, the pollutocrats must fight as never before. There was once a widespread belief (which some of us cautioned against) that governments would step up when - and only when - disaster struck. But it is precisely because disaster has struck, visibly and undeniably, that they are stepping down.