04.12.2018
The Club of Rome launches the first Climate Emergency Plan
Climate change is the most pressing global challenge, constituting an existential threat to humanity. The Club of Rome – Climate Emergency Plan, launched on December 4th at the European Parliament, sets out 10 priority actions for all sectors and governments, and is an urgent wake up call.
Quelle: Club of Rome
The recent IPCC report emphasises that climate-related risks are significantly more dangerous to human life and to the systems that sustain us at 2 °C warming compared with 1.5 °C. Yet global action is lagging, stymied by political meandering. To avoid the worst outcomes, global carbon emissions must be cut by half by 2030 and to zero by 2050 – an unprecedented task which requires bold and compelling action. The Club of Rome – Climate Emergency Plan proposes ten action points to achieve the goal set by the historic Paris Agreement, aligned with science and economic pragmatism, to limit temperature increase to 1.5 °C.
To avoid further collapse of environmental, political and socio-economic systems, urgent leadership is required now from governments, industry and citizens. Climate change is no longer a future threat. It is already affecting billions of people across the globe and every economy. Annual losses for the US alone will reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century, according to the new US Climate Assessment and continued climate related impacts could create 140 million climate migrants globally by 2050.
The Club of Rome Climate Emergency Plan calls for 10 priority actions:
- Halt fossil fuel expansion and fossil fuel subsidies by 2020: No new investments in coal, oil and gas exploration and development after 2020 and a phase-out of the existing fossil fuel industry by 2050. Phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies by 2020.
- Triple annual investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency and low carbon technologies for high emitting sectors before 2025: Give priority to developing countries to avoid lock-in to the carbon economy.
- Put a price on carbon to reflect the true cost of fossil fuel use and embedded carbon by 2020: Introduce carbon floor prices. Tax embedded carbon through targeted consumption taxes. Direct tax revenues to research, development and innovation for low-carbon solutions, cutting other taxes or supporting the welfare state.
- Replace GDP growth as the main objective for societal progress and adopt new indicators that accurately measure welfare and wellbeing rather than production growth.
- Improve refrigerant management by 2020. Adopt ambitious standards and policy to control leakages of refrigerants from existing appliances through better management practices and recovery, recycling, and destruction of refrigerants at the end of life.
- Encourage exponential technology development by 2020: Create an International Task Force to explore alignment of exponential technologies and business models with the Paris Agreement to promote technology disruption in sectors where carbon emissions have been difficult to eliminate.
- Ensure greater materials efficiency and circularity by 2025: Significantly reduce the impact of basic materials e.g. steel, cement, aluminum and plastics from almost 20% of global carbon emissions today by the early introduction of innovation, materials substitution, energy efficiency, renewable energy supply and circular material flows.
- Accelerate regenerative land use policies and adaptation: Triple annual investments in large-scale REDD+ reforestation and estuarine marshland initiatives in developing countries. Compensate farmers for building carbon in the soils and promote forestry sequestration. Support efforts to restore degraded lands. Implement adaptive risk management procedures in every state, industry, city or community.
- Ensure that population growth is kept under control by giving priority to education and health services for girls and women. Promote reproductive health and rights, including family planning programmes.
- Provide for a just transition in all affected communities: Establish funding and re-training programmes for displaced workers and communities. Provide assistance in the diversification of higher carbon industries to lower carbon production. Call upon the top 10% earners of the world to cut their GHG emissions by half till 2030.
Together with its national chapters and partners across the globe, the Club of Rome will work with all stakeholders to translate thought leadership into action in implementing the Emergency Plan and realizing a positive vision of the future.
Read this and more at Club of Rome’s website
