The Green Party has called for action after the sixth climate change report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was published today.
The paper was based on the findings of over 14,000 scientific documents and outlines the stark reality of climate change and its effects on the planet.
The world is experiencing record-breaking peak temperatures, with the fallout connected to uncontrollable wildfires and devastating floods according to the report. It concludes that some aspects of this environmental breakdown, such as rising sea levels, may be irreversible.
The study states that it is ‘unequivocal’ that global warming has been driven by human activity, with environmental experts labelling the report as a massive wake-up call for governments across the globe to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The report suggests that a drastic reduction in these emissions could mitigate the climate crisis through stabilising rising temperatures.
Deputy Leader of The Green Party, Amelia Womack, commented: "From floods and fires to droughts and rising sea levels, we are already living in a changed climate and we now have a very small window of opportunity to reverse these effects through bold and urgent action.
"If we act today, it will still take 20-30 years for the climate to stabilise again and yet all we’re hearing from the government is pledges on targets with a big gap where the policies should be to meet them.
"This is just 1.1 degrees of warning - thinking 1.5 or 2 degrees is acceptable simply ignores the reality of the issue and demonstrates clearly that the government doesn’t appreciate we are in a crisis here in the UK and around the globe, and as a result is failing to manage the risks.
"We need action not words and a global carbon tax is the most powerful way of rapidly eliminating fossil fuels from our economies. To avoid a negative impact on those on lower incomes it should be combined with significant investment in public transport and home insulation, as well as a universal basic income.
"With COP26 just around the corner, this must be the moment the government finally realises that we are living in an emergency and does something other than just greenwashing.”
Responding to the IPCC’s latest warnings, Caroline Lucas MP said: “World leaders preparing for COP26 shouldn’t need a reminder of why the Glasgow summit is the most important global meeting in decades, and why they have to do far more on climate than they are currently proposing. But if they do, this terrifying IPCC report provides it. Nature is shouting at us and governments need to start listening.
“We are seeing the repercussions of decades of complacency and reckless disregard for the climate. Governments can no longer park it in the too-difficult-deal-with box. It has to be addressed now with far more ambition, a greater sense of urgency, and realistic and credible policies to tackle with it – none of which are being delivered by Boris Johnson’s Government.
“This summer, we have already seen the extreme weather events caused by a heating world. These are not freak events – as the Met Office warned last month, flash floods & extreme temperatures are the new normal in the UK.
“They will only worsen unless Governments start to treat climate action with the urgency it requires. Here in the UK, ministers should start by backing the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill which I introduced in Parliament last year, which sets out clear legal requirements to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C, the aspiration we signed up to in the Paris Agreement.”