At 5.15pm today, a concerned XR Bristol dad climbed onto the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to protest the world’s current trajectory towards 4 degrees of global temperature rise.

The 45-year-old father of four, former teacher and member of XR Bristol Families climbed onto the canopy above the front door of the building where he spray painted “4 degrees is mass murder” and unfurled a banner reading “ACT NOW FOR ALL OUR CHILDREN”.

He said:

“My youngest child is only one. Within her lifetime scientists tell us that we are likely to see 4 degrees of global warming. The road to 4 degrees is a nightmare that has already begun for millions across the Global South, where drought and hunger are on the rise. As a father I cannot accept that for my children, or anyone’s child. We need MPs to back the Climate and Ecological Emergency bill now.”

Kwasi Kwarteng, The Minister of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has said that:

“Leading the world in tackling climate change to deliver a stronger, greener United Kingdom is my key priority for the Department.”

Yet today the Institute for Government released a report that concludes that the Government are failing to tell the truth and that “the UK has not yet confronted the scale of the task.”

In its July 2019 progress report, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said the UK Government’s policy actions “[fell] well short of those required for the net-zero target”. 

The report outlined that: “Overall the Government has only fully achieved two milestones out of the 31 set out in the 2019 Progress Report. Progress is generally off-track in most sectors, with only four out of 21 of the indicators on track in 2019.”

XR is calling on MPs to back the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill that has been scheduled for debate in Parliament in March 2021. The CEE Bill calls for policies with immediate effect in order to set in motion the changes set out by the CCC within the framework of the Climate Change Act.

Dr. Aaron Thierry, Ecologist and member of Scientists for Extinction Rebellion says:

“The science is clear that the UK Government’s policies are not sufficient to meet our internationally agreed climate targets.

“Around the world we’re already seeing millions of peoples lives and livelihoods being lost due to the devastating impacts of never ending record breaking extremes.

“Even the Government’s own independent advisers warn that we face the possibility of a catastrophic four degrees Celsius of global heating this century. That would leave us facing searing heatwaves, crop failures and coastal flooding beyond anything experienced to date. Whole ecosystems from reefs to forests will collapse. The impact on human lives would be apocalyptic.

“We simply must avoid that outcome at all costs, our government must act now to do what is necessary.”

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