Last month, millions took to the streets in climate rallies organized by some 1,500 organizations in 158 countries. Their message: that world leaders at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York must tackle the challenges of global warming head on. However, it is by no means clear that this will translate into firm political pledges (see Nature http://doi.org/v3c; 2014).

For instance, 80,000 people demonstrated ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009. At the meeting, a political collusion between the United States and a group formed by Brazil, South Africa, India and China ended up sidelining the countries most in need of action against climate change (see A. P. Kythreotis Prog. Hum. Geog. 36, 457–474; 2012).

When it comes to crucial issues of social justice and the economy, politicians should be guided by the people they are supposed to serve (see A. Petherick Nature Clim. Change 4, 81–83; 2014).