Action on climate emergency
‘Global warming’ refers to the long-term warming of the planet, and is only one aspect of climate change. Global temperature shows a well-documented rise since the early 20th century and most notably since the late 1970s. The Climate Stripes graphic on this page shows this rise. 2023 is already set to have the hottest global average …
The UK is among those countries with very high historical emissions. We have made a much bigger contribution to the climate crisis than other countries with large populations, such as China and India. Our current UK carbon emissions figure doesn’t include ‘hidden’ carbon – the fossil fuels used to make all the goods we now …
China is currently the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, but it is decarbonising much faster than countries like the US. China generates almost half of the world’s installed offshore wind, with 26 gigawatts of a total of 54 gigawatts worldwide in 2021. Last year China had an estimated 2.7 million people employed in …
The IPCC says: Limiting global warming will require big changes in energy, industry, transport and agriculture. We need a substantial reduction in fossil fuel use, widespread electrification, improved energy efficiency, and use of alternative fuels such as hydrogen. Since 2010, the costs of solar and wind energy, and batteries have decreased by up to 85%. …
The good news is that climate change can be stopped. We need to act fast. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned this year that we have seven years left to reduce CO2 emissions and limit global warming. But it added that we have options in all sectors – including energy, industry, transport and …
Climate change has already started. We are seeing its effects in the UK in the form of heatwaves, droughts, devastating storms, floods, and damage to harvests. Globally the effects of climate change will increase migration, conflict, disease and global instability. Some of the effects of climate change are happening much faster than climate scientists expected. Human-made …
The burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas has increased carbon dioxide (CO2) in Earth’s atmosphere. Our industrial activities have raised atmospheric CO2 levels by nearly 50% since 1750. We know this increase is due to human activities, because scientists can identify a distinctive isotopic fingerprint in the atmosphere. Clearing land for agriculture, …
While Earth’s climate has changed throughout its history, warming is now happening at a rate not seen in the past 10,000 years. Scientific information taken from natural sources (such as ice cores, rocks, and tree rings) and from modern equipment (like satellites and instruments) all show the signs of a changing climate. Source: NASA The …