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Category Archives: Climate change

Tackling climate change is a job for the whole voluntary sector not just green groups

Posted on 5 July, 2021 by Green Alliance blog Leave a comment

This post is by Richard Hebditch, director of external affairs at the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF).

The latest progress report from the Climate Change Committee makes it crystal clear that all sectors and organisations need to be part of the solution to climate change, and that the UK’s net zero target has helped to create the conditions for growing commitments from business and government.

Climate change

Why the government shouldn’t ignore the role of local authorities in decarbonisation

Posted on 2 July, 2021 by Philippa Borrowman One comment

The Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) progress report last week rightly expressed its disappointment that a number of government strategies have been continuously delayed, among them the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, the Heat and Buildings Strategy and the Treasury’s final Net Zero Review. These will all be important as part of the expected overarching Net Zero Strategy which will set the pace for how the government plans to reach its economic goal of net zero carbon by 2050. The CCC hopes that the strategy will address the current significant shortfall in policies and ambition.

Climate change

The US election and climate action: two very different scenarios for the future

Posted on 2 November, 2020 by Holly Rowden Leave a comment

An unprecedented number of mail-in ballots means we could be in for an uncomfortable wait for the result of the US presidential election. The polls suggest that Joe Biden is the frontrunner, although the race is too close to call in many battleground states. The significance of this election for global efforts to tackle the climate crisis cannot be overstated. This year is set to be the warmest year on record, while this summer saw wildfires ravage California and tropical storms hitting the Gulf Coast. The US has contributed more CO₂ emissions than any other country and continues to generate the highest emissions per capita. This election is a pivotal moment. So what do the two possible scenarios have in store?

Climate change

What history tells us about how we are dealing with climate change

Posted on 16 September, 2020 by Shaun Spiers 2 comments

To make climate change real to people, a first order priority rather than an afterthought, we need to tell stories, stories about what is already happening and stories about what will happen as temperatures continue to rise. But for some people, telling the story of what happened in the past when temperatures changed by just a couple of degrees Celsius will do the trick.

Climate change

What is COVID-19 teaching us about solving the climate crisis?

Posted on 1 April, 2020 by Libby Peake 3 comments

COVID-19 has rapidly changed the world we live in, as governments rightly prioritise our safety and wellbeing and ask us all to stay home. One of the upshots, for those of us lucky enough to be well, is that we now have plenty of time to reflect. Read more

What the world needs now is…a net zero club

Posted on 27 February, 2020 by Green Alliance blog One comment

This post is by Shaun Spiers, executive director at Green Alliance and Thomas Hale, associate professor in global public policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

With just over eight months to go, we now have a new COP26 president in place and preparations for the biggest international summit the UK has ever hosted are in full swing. Alok Sharma has no easy task. The eyes of the world will be on Glasgow this November for the UN climate change conference. Read more

Wishful thinking about carbon removal is slowing down climate action

Posted on 7 February, 2020 by Jonathan Ritson 5 comments

What if the mere possibility of future greenhouse gas removal technologies (GGRs) could be influencing the perception of climate risk and policy decisions being made today?

This is the premise behind a new body of work by Nils Markusson, Rebecca Willis and Duncan McLaren looking at the possibility of ‘mitigation deterrence’, a concept whereby decarbonisation is put off due to optimism about future possibility of CO₂ removal. Read more

Aviation needs a less risky strategy to get to net zero

Posted on 5 February, 2020 by Jonathan Ritson 2 comments

The aviation industry body Sustainable Aviation has just released a road map to net zero by 2050. While this is a welcome change in ambition from the previous industry-set target of halving emissions by 2050, it rests on a lot of assumptions which don’t stand up to close examination and it has some important omissions which will make it difficult or impossible to keep global heating to 1.5C. Read more

How the prime minister can save the Glasgow 2020 climate talks

Posted on 18 December, 2019 by Green Alliance blog 6 comments

This post is by Colin Hines, convenor of the UK Green New Deal Group.

The environment movement needs to learn two lessons from the election result. First, that despite all the coverage of climate events and growing public clamour for something drastic to be done about it, 12 December was definitely not a ‘climate election’. Read more

We need schools to lead a values revolution

Posted on 20 November, 2019 by Green Alliance blog Leave a comment

This post is by Natasha Parker, Global Action Plan’s head of wellbeing and consumerism

Young people are growing up in an unprecedented time of hyper-consumerism, where ubiquitous advertising compels them to be preoccupied with how they look, what they own and to chase approval from peers through social media. Read more