Landmark report stresses urgency of climate crisis

The latest report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published today [Monday 9 August, 2021] stresses the urgency to protect the most ambitious target of the Paris Agreement for global temperature rise to remain below 1.5°C.

The report refers to “unequivocal” evidence that human activity is warming the planet and warns of a rise in temperature which will threaten humanity.

Professor Albert Klein Tank is the Director of the Met Office Hadley Centre. He said: “This report paints the starkest picture yet of the global and regional impacts of climate change. Time is short to avert the worst impacts of climate change, but the report also reminds us there is no scientific reason to delay action. The case is clear. More focussed projections of future climate change are making some more optimistic outcomes even more challenging, and that should be a warning to all.

The IPCC’s Working Group I report highlights that the human influence on the climate is already affecting all regions of the planet and changing the frequency and intensity of weather extremes, from extreme rainfall and associated flooding to more intense and frequent heatwaves. In the longer term rising sea levels and melting ice from glaciers and ice sheets are going to have even more profound impacts.

Key elements from the report

• Overwhelming evidence our climate is changing due to human activities and that this is already driving impacts;
• The window to meet the Paris Agreement goals to limit warming to well below 2.0°C remains open, but the science highlights the urgency and scale of action required;
• The window to meet the Paris Agreement’s aspiration to remain below 1.5°C is still open but requires immediate action;
• Advances in climate science research provide the information to better plan an effective response at global and regional levels. This includes limiting future change and making society more resilient to the changes we will see;
• An interactive regional atlas looking highlighting climate impacts is a new feature.

In July 2019 Sefton Council declared a Climate Emergency. In declaring a Climate Emergency, it was agreed that:

Sefton Council is committed to reducing carbon emissions and resolves to go further than the UK100 Agreement and to act in line with the scientific consensus that we must reduce emissions to net zero by 2030, and therefore commits to:

• Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’ that requires urgent action.
• Make the Council’s activities net-zero carbon by 2030.
• Commit to municipalisation of energy supply by utilising public sector sites to generate energy where appropriate
• Ensure that all strategic decisions are in line with a shift to zero carbon by 2030.
• Support and work with all other relevant agencies towards making the Sefton area Zero Carbon within the same timescale.
• Achieve 100% clean energy across Sefton Council’s full range of functions by 2030.
• Convene an assembly of interested groups not directly represented on Council in 2020 to oversee and feed into the development of related action plans and budgets across the City.

You can find out more about Sefton’s Climate Emergency Strategy HERE