The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) has joined 23 other leading academies and learned societies to publish the Climate Communiqué.
The communiqué highlights the overwhelming scientific evidence of climate warming and asks that governments demonstrate leadership by recognising the risks it poses, embracing appropriate technological and policy responses, and seizing the opportunities of low carbon growth.
Climate change poses risks to people and ecosystems both by exacerbating existing economic, environmental, geopolitical, health and social threats and generating new ones. These risks increase disproportionately as the temperature increases.
The communiqué states that if we are to have a reasonable chance of limiting warming in this century to 2°C, relative to the pre-industrial period, we must transition to a zero-carbon world by early in the second half of the century.
But the communiqué also notes that while the threats posed by climate change are far-reaching, the ways in which we tackle them can be a source of opportunity. There exists real potential for innovation, including the use of low-carbon technologies.
Dr Rita Gardner said;
“The Society’s Council of trustees believes that the time is right to inform governments and the public of the broad levels of agreement among leading learned societies on this serious global issue. Climate change has strong geographical dimensions and geography is a key subject in integrating our understanding of the processes of change across natural and social systems. The geographical research community contributes substantially to our understanding, and the Society plays a leading role in education, public engagement and publishing relevant research findings.”
Read the Climate Communiqué here