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Urgent climate action must be taken and communities are willing to participate in their own electricity production – if the incentives are right

The challenge of climate change is global and it demands action on an international scale, such as the Paris Agreement. But a large part of the solution will be local, involving all of us in the way energy is produced and consumed.

The potential for citizen involvement in electricity production is considerable. A recent study showed that by 2050 half of all Europeans could produce their own electricity either at home, as part of a cooperative, or in their small business. Counting generation from wind and solar power alone, these small actors could meet almost half of Europe’s total electricity needs.

Related: Energy co-ops: why the UK has nothing on Germany and Denmark

Related: UK cuts to renewable energy make a mockery of its pledge at Paris climate talks

I’ve spent a lot of time with indigenous peoples in remote places. So when I argue that the best way – or at least the cheapest way – to stop climate change is to grant land rights to indigenous communities, you might suspect I’m not coming from an entirely objective viewpoint. You’ve probably also heard various industry spokespeople saying the best and cheapest way to stop climate change is through windfarms, solar panels, electric cars and cavity wall insulation. But while I may be biased, and may even have “gone native” now and then, I’m not trying to sell you anything.

Related: From the Nile to the Amazon, climate change threatens hydropower

Related: Major Amazon dam opposed by tribes fails to get environmental licence

The veteran photographer tackles the effects of climate change in his new book and shares phone numbers of deniers, such as Vice President-elect Mike Pence

Some may know the US photographer Danny Lyon for late-1960s shots of outlaw motorcycle gangs. Others may be familiar with his photograph of Bernie Sanders as a young protester at a 1962 Chicago University sit-in, which surfaced during this presidential campaign, or Lyon’s record of the marches staged by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which remain some of the most valuable visual representations of the civil rights movement.

Related: The Whitney launches major retrospective of Danny Lyon - in pictures

Canada has made significant progress in its climate policy, but has further yet to go

The Paris Agreement was ratified globally in November. This is unprecedented amongst international agreements for how quickly it has come into force. The Agreement allows each country to decide how it will tackle climate change, and requires as of 2020, regular reporting on progress. Countries of the world have officially embarked in a global race to implement ambitious climate policies that contribute to reducing green-house gas emissions at the planetary-scale.

This process is not unlike the Olympics games where countries get together to compare their strengths and performance. If Canada wants to be a medalist in 2020, domestic climate policies must rapidly be adopted to accelerate the low carbon transition. In this context, Sustainable Canada Dialogues (SCD) – a network of 60+ scholars from across Canada – produced Rating Canada’s Climate Policy; a progress report on Canada’s climate actions over the past year. We analysed climate decisions made in Ottawa in 2016 in relationship to the 10 policy orientations that we proposed previously in our position paper entitled Acting on Climate Change: Solutions from Canadian Scholars.