Alok Sharma article for the Guardian on Climate change Time is running short – but we can get a grip on the climate crisis

Guardian – Time is running short – but we can get a grip on the climate crisis

Alok Sharma  Today’s targets are nowhere near enough, we must speed up change and halve global emissions in the next decade. Alok Sharma is president designate of Cop26 and the Conservative MP for Reading West

Report: UK’s Cop26 president calls for world to get on track to hit net zero by 2050

• The climate crisis represents a clear and present danger to people and our planet. Its real-world consequences are now all too visible.
• In Nepal last month, I met communities displaced by melting glaciers. In Ethiopia, I saw how floods, droughts and locusts have decimated crops. Around the world, oceans are warming, and storms, floods and wildfires are intensifying, while here at home, our coastal towns face serious long-term threats from rising seas. Unless we act now, we will be out of time to hold back the worst impacts.
• Our planet is heating up, fast. On course, scientists tell us, for temperature rises of some 3.5C by 2100 compared to pre-industrial levels. The impact of such a rise will be nothing less than catastrophic.
• Yet, at the same time, we are increasingly waking up to the danger, and the direction of travel is changing. Countries responsible for 65% of global emissions now have net zero or carbon neutral commitments.

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