(8 October 2018) – Responding to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s 1.5°C special report published today, Eamon O’Hara, executive director of ECOLISE, said: “The report’s clear message of urgency and hope will only serve to encourage the thousands of communities across Europe and beyond that are already creatively transforming their way of life and challenging an economic model that is inherently unjust and unsustainable. Technology alone won’t help us get to 1.5°C so the task now is to bring the message that communities, in collaboration with municipalities and others, play a vital role in the transformation to social justice, well-being and a zero-carbon society.”

Climate Action Network (CAN-Europe), with over 150 member organisations from 35 European countries, including ECOLISE, said the report offers the most comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and the action needed to stay below this threshold. It proves beyond doubt that staying below 1.5°C will significantly reduce the damage from climate change for the poorest and most vulnerable countries, but also for all Europeans.

“Science has given us a message of both urgency and hope. It has made it crystal clear that warming of more than 1.5°C would result in ever wilder extreme weather events. These in turn would expose us to greater drought, food shortages and economic devastation. The silver lining to the report is that we still have a chance to stay below 1.5°C, that solutions are within our reach and that it will help us build a safer, more prosperous Europe,” said Wendel Trio, director of CAN-Europe.

See here for CAN-Europe’s full statement and reaction from other CAN-Europe members.