IES supports National Emergency Briefing on climate & nature

On the 27th November the IES was invited to attend the National Emergency Briefing on climate & nature held in Westminster, London. This was the first event of its kind, bringing together MPs, scientists, NGOs, media representatives, and leaders across business, faith, sport, and culture to call for more action on the climate and nature crises.

The aim of the event was to persuade decision makers of the urgent need for action and called for a "reset" of the national conversation on climate and nature, facilitated by the media. A letter was launched at the event directed towards government and broadcasters, with attendees encouraged to sign and promote.

Read and sign the letter to Government.

The event was opened by an impassioned speech by Chris Packham CBE, who underlined the importance of following the science to effectively tackle the nature and climate crises, highlighting the risks of not listening to the evidence, and drawing parallels with the recent Covid-19 inquiry. Chris delivered his speech whilst holding up an image of the earth from space, emphasising the importance of protecting and restoring our one home. 

Expert briefings were then provided on 10 key topics, illustrating the interconnected and interdependent aspects of our environment, society and economy. Each briefing outlined the impacts already being felt globally, the severity and scale of the challenges posed if we continue business as usual, as well as highlighting science-based pathways for action.

Briefings covered climate, weather extremes, energy transitions, food security, nature, health impacts, national security, economics, and tipping points. All of the talks highlighted that transformative, systems-level change is needed for effective action, with calls for "World War Two level leadership" in order to tackle the crisis. 

One of the speakers, Kevin Anderson, Professor of Energy and Climate Change at the University of Manchester said: “The choice is between deep, rapid and fair decarbonisation of modern society, and an organised technical and social revolution; or ongoing rhetoric and delay as temperatures rise which leads to revolutionary style change that will be both chaotic and violent.”

The IES will continue to explore how it can support the National Emergency Briefing's goals and engage with government to champion our policy positions set out in Our shared Mission for Sustainable Wellbeing.

Header image credit: Ethny Childs