09 August 2021

Press Release

For immediate release

WWF responds to IPCC Report 2021

Following the publication of the IPCC climate change report, Dr Stephen Cornelius, Chief Adviser on Climate Change and WWF lead on the IPCC, said:

“This is a stark assessment of the frightening future that awaits us if we fail to act. With the world on the brink of irreversible harm, every fraction of a degree of warming matters to limit the dangers of climate change. It is clear that keeping global warming to 1.5°C is hugely challenging and can only be done if urgent action is taken globally to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect and restore nature.

“The UK government, as host of the most important climate conference since the Paris Agreement in 2015, must step up its efforts and show climate leadership. This must start at home, with a credible strategy to deliver the promised net zero emissions and a fiscal test to ensure all government spending is compatible with climate targets. We won’t forget the promises that have been made, nor will future generations.”

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

Ahead of COP26, WWF is calling for the UK government to:

Urgently publish a detailed, binding action plan, showing step by step how we will decarbonise each sector of the UK, and get to work immediately.
Make sure investments from the finance sector are flowing towards projects needed to create a greener future, and away from the dirty industries harming our planet.
Introduce a ‘net zero test’ requiring the Treasury to measure all future recovery spending plans against the UK’s climate and environment commitments.
Pass world-leading new laws at home and lead an international coalition to deliver deforestation and conversion-free supply chains.
Request that countries include land use, agriculture and nature-based solutions in their national climate plans.

About the latest IPCC climate change report:

The IPCC is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change.
The IPCC publishes comprehensive scientific Assessment Reports every 6 to 7 years. These reports are an authoritative source of information on climate change, and underpin the international community’s understanding of climate change and related issues. The last assessment, the Fifth Assessment Report, was completed in 2013-2014 and provided the main scientific input to the Paris Agreement.
This Working Group I report - Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science, is the first of four contributions to the Sixth Assessment Report. The others are Working Group II (Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability), Working Group III (Mitigation of Climate Change) and the Synthesis Report (integrates the findings of the three Working Groups) - all of which will be up for approval in 2022.

WWF's Climate Crisis Fund supports projects and initiatives around the world that are directly tackling the climate crisis. Donations will fund crucial work such as protecting the Amazon, restoring forests and carbon absorbing seagrass, to high level advocacy work, changing policy and ensuring governments and companies make climate positive decisions. Supporters of this new fund can give as much as they'd like, as often as they'd like, and will receive monthly email updates on the impact their donations are having.

WWF’s report, Feeling the Heat, published on 1 June 2021, highlights 12 species from around the world that are already experiencing the impacts of climate change; from puffins on UK coasts, to penguins in Antarctica, to monkeys in the Amazon jungle. It also looks at the use of nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change and benefit people and nature.