Our letter to Boris Johnson & Mario Draghi
Scientists Warning Europe have issued a letter to the Prime Ministers of of the UK and Italy on the approach to this vital COP26 climate conference.
Dear Prime Ministers of the UK and Italy,
We write to you in your capacity as co-hosts of COP26. We refer to our previous letter to Prime Minister
Johnson on 12 February this year in support of the letter from Dr James E. Hansen.
We finished this previous letter with a quote by Winston Churchill “History will be kind to me because I intend to write it”. We call on you both now to follow Mr Churchill, pick up your pens and write the chapter in future history books entitled “The Leaders that Finally solved the Climate Crisis”.
We agree with Sir David Attenborough that "if we don't act now, it will be too late”. Sir David has, with tens of thousands of other scientists, been raising the alarm on the climate and biodiversity crisis for decades. The first World Scientists Warning to Humanity was issued back in 1992.
Action has been put off or watered down for many years, decades even, by financial or business interests or due to political expediency. The proverbial can has been firmly kicked down the road but the road has ended at a cliff edge and the can teeters terrifyingly on this edge.
The scientific world has done all it can to give you and other politicians the scientific advice needed to make the vitally important decisions required. Now you must take up your pens and write yourselves into the World's history books by selecting net zero targets for the UK and Italy significantly in advance of 2050.
For us to have any chance of staying under the 1.5°C threshold identified in the Paris Agreement this should ideally be 2030 or as near as possible
In this letter we avoid stating the latest scientific facts to you again. What is the point? The scientific world has researched and reported, peer-reviewed and presented report after report after report. Most scientists are quite frankly fed up. The dire facts have all been presented, re-presented and re-examined time and again. Now it is the twelfth hour, a minute before midnight. Now is the time for moral courage and real leadership.
As Prime Minister Draghi has said before we now need to do "whatever it takes!”
All current politicians of whatever level and wherever in the world must be aware they will be called to account for their actions or inaction in the face of the Climate Crisis not only at the ballot box but also by their children and grandchildren in the living room and around the breakfast table.
You are the Prime Ministers of two of the most advanced and respected nations of the World, members of the G7 and joint hosts of COP26. This is the most important event in the history of the planet. We have been told by Sir David Attenborough “to act now or it will be too late” and John Kerry has said COP26 is humanity's "best last chance”. We put it to you, Prime Ministers, that it is also your best last chance to truly step up, be hugely more ambitious than in the past and lead the World at this crucial moment in time.
We again offer our commitment and help to you in achieving this.
Yours faithfully
Ed Gemmell, Managing Director, Scientists Warning Europe
For and on behalf of
Professor Kevin Anderson, Chair of Energy and Climate Change, Tyndall Centre, University of Manchester
Professor Phoebe Barnard, Professor of Environmental Futures, University of Washington, USA and lead author of the paper World Scientists' Warning Into Action, Board Member Scientists Warning Europe
Professor Lorenzo Fioramonti, Professor of Political Economy in South Africa and Member of Parliament in Italy
Professor Dave Goulson, Professor of Biology at University of Sussex, Scientific Advisory Panel Member Scientists Warning Europe
Professor Joanna Haigh, Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Physics, Imperial College London
Dr James E Hansen, Director, Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions program, Columbia University Earth Institute
Professor Tim Jackson, Professor of Sustainable Development and Director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), University of Surrey
Professor Felicia Keesing, David and Rosalie Rose Distinguished Professor of Science, Mathematics, and Computing, Bard University, New York
Professor Sir David King, FRS, Founder and Chair, Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge University
Professor William F. Laurance, Distinguished Professor, Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science, James Cook University, Australia, Patron Scientists Warning Europe
Dr. Mahmoud Mahmoud, Principal Environmental Scientist, Nigerian National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, Scientific Advisory Panel Member Scientists Warning Europe
Professor Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science, University College London
Adjunct Professor Luca Mercalli, President, Italian Meteorological Society
Dr Kris De Meyer, Director of the UCL Climate Action Unit, Communications Advisory Panel Member Scientists Warning Europe
Professor William Moomaw, Emeritus Professor of International Environmental Policy, Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University, USA, Board Member Scientists Warning Europe
Professor Mark New, Pro-VC for Climate Change University of Cape Town and Professor of International Development at the University of East Anglia
Dr. Jane O'Sullivan, University of Queensland, Australia
Dr. Stuart Parkinson, Executive Director, Scientists for Global Responsibility
Professor Chris Rapley CBE, Professor of Climate Science, University College London, Scientific Advisory Panel Member Scientists Warning Europe
Professor William E. Rees - School of Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia, Canada
Professor Chris Rhodes, Director of Fresh-lands Environmental Actions, Independent Energy and Environment Consultant, Board Member Scientists Warning Europe
Professor Stefano Tibaldi, Climatologist, former General Director of the Environmental Agency of Emilia-Romagna, Senior Climate Scientist, CMCC - Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change
Dr. Christopher K. Tucker, Chairman, American Geographical Society, USA
Professor Pier Vellinga, Professor on the implications of Climate Change Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Board Member Scientists Warning Europe
Professor Peter Wadhams, Emeritus Professor of Ocean Physics, Dept of Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics Cambridge Univ, Core Team Member Scientists Warning Europe
Professor Stephen E. Williams, Centre for Tropical Environmental & Sustainability Science, College of Science & Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
Dr. Chris Wolf, Postdoctoral Scholar, Oregon State University
Professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, Professor of Climate and Sustainable Development Sciences, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium, Board Member Scientists Warning Europe