The past six months have given me renewed hope for the planet.
We have a new US president who accepts that the climate crisis is real and is demonstrating unprecedented commitment to tackling it. The G7 group of richest nations have pledged to fully decarbonise their energy sectors in the 2030s. The financial sector is incentivising social and environmental, as well as economic, performance as never before.
In the UK, our own government has announced a plan to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035 compared with 1990 levels, as it prepares for November’s UN COP climate talks in Glasgow.
Businesses are also stepping up. For example, our long-term partner Kingfisher plc has recently strengthened its commitments to reduce its energy use and carbon emissions in line with the need to keep global average temperature rises as close as possible to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. We are supporting many other businesses to create science-based targets.
It is a bold ambition, but the world needs nothing less.
As we start to recover from the pandemic – keeping everything crossed – we must now summon all our energy to tackle the climate and ecological crises, and achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the shortest time possible.
At Bioregional our ambition is clear: to achieve a world where everyone, everywhere, lives happy, healthy lives, within the means of our one planet, leaving space for wildlife and wilderness.
This is a huge challenge. It needs to be met with equal ambition. This is why we are putting our weight behind the UN’s Race to Zero – a global campaign to rally leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions and investors, committing them to set science-based targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero as soon as possible, in line with global efforts to limit warming to 1.5C.
We have championing zero carbon for 20 years and are delighted that, finally, it’s within our grasp to make it a reality. It is a bold ambition, but the world needs nothing less.
Through our work with businesses, developers, housing associates, and local authorities, we are showing it’s possible to make great progress towards this vision.
We hope you will join us.
Bioregional is a not-for-profit charity. We couldn't do our work without the generous support of all our grant funders and donors. To find out more about how you can support our work, please visit our 'Support us' page.
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