By means of a letter, 1,176 leading climate scientists, ecologists and medical professionals have urged MPs to take decisive action on the climate and nature crisis and “step up to this historic moment”, emphasising that this is “the last, best chance we have to show leadership in steering the course of humanity towards a future where we can thrive, not merely survive”. The experts go on calling for MPs to “stand up for the people of the UK and across the world”.
The campaign, entitled Zero Hour, calls for the Climate and Nature Bill (formerly the CE Bill, CEE Bill) – a new UK law that addresses climate change, global warming, and the nature crisis in line with the most up-to-date science. The Bill is the only proposed legislation before the UK Parliament that ensures a comprehensive and joined-up approach to the emergency.
“We are acutely aware of the existential threat that humanity faces from climate change and the loss of nature. July 2024 was the thirteenth consecutive month where global temperatures reached 1.5°C above pre-industrial averages. There are more than 163,000 species on the IUCN Red List, with more than 45,300 species threatened with extinction, including 41% of amphibians, 26% of mammals and 12% of birds. We have also crossed six of nine planetary boundaries—the safe operating spaces for humanity—and breaching these limits increases the risk of generating large-scale, abrupt or irreversible environmental changes. Around the world, climate-driven droughts, flooding, heat waves and wildfires are commonplace and are making life intolerable for millions of people, ” reads the letter.
MPs have now returned to Westminster following summer recess, and the scientists presented their letter, along with symbolic oak sapling ahead of the Private Members’ Bill Ballot process (5th of September – 16th of October), when 20 MPs are to present their bills of choice.
The esteemed Prof Dame E.J. Milner-Gulland (University of Oxford) and Prof Nathalie Pettorelli (Zoological Society London), are amongst the signatories, which also includes Nobel Prize winners -Prof Sir John Walker (Nobel Laureate in Chemistry) and Prof John O’Keefe (Nobel Laureate in Physiology)—as well as Prof Dame Henrietta Moore (UCL), Prof Emily Shuckburgh OBE (University of Cambridge) and Prof Sir David King, former Government Chief Scientific Adviser. Professor Alistair Griffiths, the Director of Science & Collections at Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is also amongst the signatories.