Why climate change is a crisis

Climate change is the biggest challenge currently facing humanity. Unchecked, climate change threatens not only our environment but also our economic development and the existence of organised human life on Earth. It is the challenge that will define this generation and those that follow. 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Waming of 1.5°C (2018) has left us in no doubt about the precise nature of this challenge. It concluded that the evidence of climate change is unequivocal, and that temperature rise must be kept below 1.5°C to avoid catastrophic impacts. 

Without actions, climate change will have catastrophic effects for many areas of the globe. It will have spill-over impacts for all regions and countries. Heat-waves and droughts are already increasing and the human cost is evident. Sea level rise is driving people out of their homes  and if it continues, will create hundreds of millions of climate refugees. We will have to adapt our lives to manage our responses to these changes.

To avoid catastrophic impacts, we must reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to ensure that future generations can retain the capacity to survive.