In its new report ‘Turn Down the Heat’ the World Bank – the world’s primary bank for development funding – emphasises that life on Earth with 4°C warming would be ‘dire’, with extreme heat-waves, declining global food stocks and a sea-level rise affecting hundreds of millions of people among the ‘cataclysmic’ impacts we can expect to suffer.
The World Bank has told government leaders and policy-makers their current emissions reduction pledges are so weak that our planet is on track to hit 4°C by 2100 – even if countries meet their targets. However, keeping our planet within tolerable limits of 1.5°C to 2°C warming is still possible if leaders take swift and decisive action. The World Bank’s recommendations for governments resonate with those issued just last week by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Both institutions are known for their conservatism, yet both are sounding the alarm about current investment trends in high-carbon infrastructure. They both advocate major shifts away from fossil fuel subsidies, for example, combined with a rapid increase in energy efficiency and renewable energy investment. The growing chorus of powerful voices calling for climate action is ramping up the pressure on governments to respond during international UN climate talks in Doha this month.
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About the AuthorTckTckTck is the online hub for the Global Call for Climate Action. The GCCA represents an unprecedented alliance of more than 400 nonprofit organizations from around the world. Our shared mission is to mobilize civil society and galvanize public support to ensure a safe climate future for people and nature, to promote the low-carbon transition of our economies, and to accelerate the adaptation efforts in communities already affected by climate change.
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