Thank you for contacting me about the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report on climate change.
I welcome the publication of the IPCC’s report which makes for very sobering reading, laying clear the stark consequences climate change is having on our planet and what will happen if decisive action is not taken now.
The report warns that climate change is already affecting every single region across the globe and without urgent action warming, heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and loss of Arctic Sea ice, snow cover and permafrost, will all increase. In addition, the report highlights that immediate action is required to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050 to give a good chance of limiting global warming to 1.5C in the long-term and help to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
I am glad that the UK Government is already taking the issue of climate change incredibly seriously and we have decarbonised our economy faster than any country in the G20 over the last two decades. In addition, ambitious targets such as a 68 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, and a 78 per cent reduction in emissions by 2035, also compared to 1990 levels have been enshrined in law.
The IPCC report must be a wake-up call for the rest of the world to take action now. While welcome progress has been made, for example when the UK took on the COP Presidency 2 years ago, 30 percent of world GDP was covered by a net zero target and that is now at around 90 per cent. Over the same period, 154 Parties have submitted new national targets, representing 80 per cent of global emissions.
The next decade will be decisive and I look forward to seeing further global ambition to tackle this issue which is the greatest threat facing our planet. I was encouraged that at COP26, the Prime Minister succeeded in securing an agreement which requires countries to return in 2022 with a more ambitious 2030 emissions reductions target in line with the 1.5C target.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.