Fiona Duggan, Policy Lead at climate solutions charity Ashden said: “The report made crystal clear that we need to be fighting climate breakdown on all fronts, in all countries, at rapid speed – it was a no-holds barred message of warning and hope.
“We were delighted to see such strong emphasis on the urgent need for policy action and government and financial support to vulnerable communities that are already suffering from climate impacts. The report authors’ strongest yet warning that we can no longer put off decisions about how to decarbonise because consequences to food and water supply and nature are urgent and dire, was a message that must be shouted from the rooftops by all in their wake.
“Importantly the report gave huge emphasis to the co-benefits of rapid decarbonisation throughout – that reducing climate emissions will have huge co-benefits on health, economies, communities and the natural environment.
“The IPCC writers pointed out lowering demand through energy efficiency in building could reduce emissions by 66% by 2030. In the UK that means launching a retrofit revolution that dramatically cuts the UK’s emissions as is being done by award-winning organisations such as B4Box, Carbon Coop, and the Low Carbon Academy’s retrofit green skills hub and energy efficiency and retrofit projects spearheaded by many local authorities.
“In the global South it means supporting renewable energy take-up that will allow countries to leapfrog the carbon intensive infrastructure that have done so much damage to the world into clean, renewable, cheaper energy, accessible to the poor and the rich. We have the clean energy and natural climate solutions all over the world – Ashden Award winners last year such as the retrofit training and construction company in Manchester B4Box, Renewable parts in Scotland which supplies recirculated and new parts to over 2,000 wind turbines each year, solar-powered coldrooms transforming farmers’ businesses in Kenya and the indigenous reforestation scheme in Borneo in which loggers can swap their chainsaws for training in new livelihoods in forest regeneration are just a few.
“As the IPCC pointed out – what is crucial is that investors, banks and governments get behind them – immediately and at scale.”
