King Charles activates climate countdown clock
with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan
The climate clock has a countdown of six years and 24
days
By Danny
Halpin
29 June
2023
The King
and the Mayor of London have activated a climate clock which counts down the
time left to balance global greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the Earth
heating more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Scientists
have said that achieving this is vital to ensuring a safe and liveable planet
as even sticking to 1.5C offered just a 50-50 chance of avoiding catastrophic
tipping points that would heat the Earth beyond human control.
Almost
every country has agreed to meet this target as part of the Paris Agreement in
2015, but experts have warned that after eight years the world is still not on
track, with warming of around 2.7C currently predicted by 2100.
The climate
clock has a countdown of six years and 24 days, at which point experts say the
world will have used up the carbon budget for keeping to the Paris Agreement
and the Earth will inevitably heat beyond 1.5C.
Mr Khan,
alongside the King on stage at the Climate Innovation Forum in London,
activated the clock with a large red button made from plastic washed up on the
Gower Peninsula in Wales, which will be recycled into a plant pot and given to
the King.
There are
150 versions of the clock around the UK, across London, Birmingham, Glasgow,
Manchester, Edinburgh and Southampton.
A
dominating image of the countdown will also broadcast in London’s Piccadilly
Circus for five days.
Nick Henry,
chief executive and founder of Climate Action, said: “We are honoured to be
joined by His Majesty King Charles at the Climate Innovation Forum for the
national climate clock switch on, during London Climate Action Week.
“This
powerful illustration of the scale of the climate emergency also reminds us
there is still time to avert disaster.
Mr Khan
joined the King on stage at the Climate Innovation Forum / PA
“We need to
align all actors – governments, cities, investors, businesses, and civil
society – to move at speed and at scale.
“It is
vital that we embrace the pro-growth opportunity of the net-zero transition and
turn ambition into transformational action.”
The King
also met climate change minister Graham Stuart, who said on stage: “We can be
proud of the fact that we have decarbonised more than any other major economy
on Earth.
“But it’s
not enough, and that’s one of the reasons why we’re funding innovation.
“I’m
pleased to announce today that we’ve awarded £80 million to companies
developing new clean technologies through our net-zero innovation portfolio.”
The King
met some of these innovators, who are creating solutions to environmental
problems, such as Futraheat, which works to capture and reuse waste heat from
industrial processes, and Arda Biomaterials, which turns feedstocks into
materials for fashion, home goods and other industries.
Pascal
Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, said on stage: “This is not only a
crisis that will happen in 20 or 30 years, this is a crisis that is here today.
“The
pandemic globally cost seven million lives. And, of course, it’s an awfully
large number of people dying from Covid.
“But
actually, pollution and climate change cost us seven to nine million lives
every year.
“And some
people would think OK, well this is something that is happening in faraway
countries due to flooding, drought, extreme temperatures, but it is actually
here, it’s affecting us all.”
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário