Responding to UNEP’s climate report “Limiting Overshoot – Narrowing exceedance of 1.5°C and pathways towards return” published today, Teresa Anderson, Global Lead on climate justice at ActionAid International, says:
“The tragedy in Nepal is the result of decades of half-hearted, piecemeal efforts to cut emissions. It must serve as a wake-up call to collaborate with workers and communities to accelerate the shift out of the fossil fuel era, and to significantly boost funding for action in frontline countries.
“Unfortunately, policy makers have been lulled into inaction by the vague hope that one day we’ll be able to suck carbon out of the air, and all will be well. That delusion is deeply dangerous. We mustn’t pin our hopes on technologies that suck. Radical transformation and real funding now are our only hope for limiting global temperature rise above 1.5°C.“
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Notes to editors:
- Technologies such as Carbon Dioxide Removal and Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage, intended to pull CO2 out of the air, are unlikely to work in practice and present enormous risks to land rights and food security, particularly in the Global South. Previous ActionAid publications on this include:
- BECCS: A Dangerous Distraction – ActionAid USA
About ActionAid
ActionAid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. ActionAid USA is the U.S. member of the ActionAid federation, based in Washington, D.C.