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Scientists and academics call for action at COP26 in Glasgow
“We, scientists and academics from around the world, are calling for drastic action to be taken to protect our climate at the COP26 in Glasgow.
The pivotal 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change binds states to keep warming well below 2°C and resolutely pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. Even with a warming of 1°C, we have experienced severe and horrific impacts on ecosystems and humans.
In August 2021, the first part of the Sixth Assessment report of the IPCC was published. It states that “Global surface temperature will continue to increase until at least the mid-century under all emissions scenarios considered. Global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century unless deep reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades.” Clearly, we are not on track to meet the targets set by the Paris Agreement and the time has come when COP26 may now be our very last chance.
Furthermore, this report confirms that “Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has strengthened since the Fifth Assessment Report” (2014).
Therefore, our leaders must take bold and decisive action at this summit. It is now or never, and we are calling on them to accept their duty to act. Only if we do so swiftly and consistently can we limit global warming, halt the mass extinction of plant and animal species, and create a future worth living for present and future generations.
In January 2020, over 11,000 scientists from 153 countries declared that we were “clearly and unequivocally” in a climate emergency and that as scientists we had a moral obligation to warn humanity of any catastrophic threat, to “tell it like it is.” With this letter, we call on the world’s leaders to equally assume their responsibility and be influential in making this summit a historical milestone. The moment we turn our backs on fossil fuels, the moment we say yes to the preservation of life, and the moment we start working together to create a new normal: one that does not hasten the end of life on earth, but builds a fair and just future.
This is our very last chance and we must seize it.”
As of Tuesday 2nd Novembre 2021 this letter was signed by 441 scientists and academics from over 35 countries.
Full list of signatories :
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18JYo7q4dy9FVcBbX_es-n_ECuYu4bzQoNBplpu86YNA/edit?usp=sharing
Media Contact :
Noé Vonlanthen, SACA International : noe@saca-international.org
Green Recovery
Teach The Future
SACA supports the Teach The Future campaign that aims to repurpose the English education system around the climate emergency and ecological crisis.
Successful
September 2019 :
Letter in support of the Global Climate Strike
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November 2019 :
Scientists and Academics support call for a televised election debate on Climate and Nature
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