The IPCC report tells us the power is in our hands
We believe – and always have done – that one of the biggest things individuals and businesses can do to tackle climate change is to switch to 100% renewable power.
October’s report from the IPCC confirms that energy is one of the four critical components the public, government and policy makers need to act on in order to limit the rise of the planet’s temperature to 1.5C.
“The next few years are probably the most important in our history,” Dr Debra Roberts this week, one of 60 authors of the new UN report.
The study details how quickly the planet is heating up and the likely impacts of a warmer world. Since pre-industrial times, the experts who make up the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimate the planet’s temperature has increased by 1C.
The Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, committed the 195 nations present to work on reducing global temperatures to “well below 2C” with an aspiration to limit the rise to 1.5C.
The IPCC makes clear that to achieve this goal will require “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes”, with no area of society left untouched in the coming years.
As we know, the current rate of warming has been driven by greenhouse gas emissions, which are overwhelmingly the result of human activity. There isn’t a single section of our economy, from agriculture to aviation, which doesn’t emit carbon through its demand for energy.
The report tells a story, which by now is familiar to most of us: unless we change course, we will see melting ice caps and more extreme weather, such as flooding, heatwaves, and drought.
These warnings about the state of the planet can often leave us feeling helpless. Climate change is simply too big an issue, too fearful, and far into the future.
But while the authors stressed the extent of the challenge, they also struck a positive note, highlighting that beating climate change is both possible and within reach.
Dr Roberts went on to tell the BBC that “it’s not about remote science; it’s about where we live and work.”
“The energy we buy, we must be putting pressure on policymakers to make options available so that I can use renewable energy in my everyday life.”
And this gets to a key choice for all of us when reading the doom-laden headlines. If we can change the way we use energy, away from finite sources, such as coal and gas, then we can take real action to stop global warming in its tracks.
Good Energy powers homes and businesses with only 100% renewable electricity from a community of over 1,400 UK generators. We also supply 100% carbon neutral gas, through the support of schemes, such as reforestation, which prevent carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
Signing up as a customer to Good Energy supports renewable energy. We have been in the business of fighting climate change since 1999 and have no intention of stopping.
