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WWF-UK reaction to the UNFCCC review of national climate pledges
WWF’s chief executive, David Nussbaum and chief climate adviser, Dr Stephen Cornelius gave the following statement in response to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) review of countries’ pledges to tackle climate change.
David Nussbaum WWF-UK’s chief executive said:
“David Cameron’s homework is unfinished and due before he goes to Paris. The UK government will have far greater influence in the Paris climate talks if we get our own house in order first.
“To do this, the government needs to announce the phase out of dirty coal by 2023 and build a world-leading renewable energy sector. Our cleantech firms have shown their potential. Britain could be a world leader in renewable energy, if government provides the clarity and consistency for investors to fund sustained growth.”
Dr Stephen Cornelius WWF-UK’s chief adviser on climate change said:
“It is clear that, when added up, the 146 countries’ climate pledges reviewed in the report are not enough. While there has been a lot of progress over the last year, it is still insufficient to keep the global temperature rise to well below 2oC that the scientific evidence demands.
“A big challenge for the Paris climate talks is how to increase the ambition of countries so that their collective actions will put us on the right path to tackle climate change. The message we have to send to leaders and negotiators in Paris must be: we must do more, and we must do it faster. The more that we do now, the easier and cheaper it will be.
“The Paris climate deal must include ways to encourage countries to take on tougher emissions targets. These targets must be fair and fit the scientific evidence in order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”
Note to editors
The UNFCCC report is available here:
http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/07.pdf
For more information, please contact:
Mike Eames, Media Relations Manager, WWF-UK
Email:meames@wwf.org.uk
Phone: +44 7917 052948
About WWF-UK
WWF is one of the world’s largest independent conservation organisations, with more than five million supporters and a global network active in more than one hundred countries. Through our engagement with the public, businesses and government, we focus on safeguarding the natural world, creating solutions to the most serious environmental issues facing our planet, so that people and nature thrive. Find out more about our work, past and present at wwf.org.uk.
