Climate change news – latest: Fracking protesters freed and Scottish Power goes 100% renewable
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The government's climate change advisers have been tasked with setting out a strategy that could see the UK bring its carbon emissions to zero by 2050.
Such a target would be in line with the ambitious targets laid out in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's recent report, which revealed unprecedented changes were needed across society to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Meanwhile, one of the UK's biggest energy suppliers has completely dropped fossil fuels in favour of wind power - setting the agenda for the nation's future power supply - and the three activists jailed for protesting against fracking have been freed.
Here you can follow the latest climate change news from the UK and around the world after scientists urged nation's to take action last week.
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If you're interested in reading the IPCC report, it can be found below. The headline figures can be found in the Summary for Policymakers, a 33-page document that is intended to lay out the facts as simply as possible to inform those in power about the potential risks of climate change.
We spoke to activists working in the places already feeling the effects of climate change, from the Arctic to the Pacific islands, about how its effects are already putting their communities at risk:
Friends of the Earth had some harsh words for the UK's continued support for fracking, which many environmental groups feel is rather at odds with the government's claim to be tough on climate change.
In response to the IPCC's findings, climate campaigner Rachel Kennerley from Friends of the Earth said: “Just like ignoring credit card statements so that repayments only become sharper and steeper, this report shows that weak responses will make it harder in the long-run. Right now it’s difficult, but not impossible, to contain climate chaos but the window of opportunity will close for good the longer we delay.
“It’s hard to be blunter than saying there won’t be coral reefs left if governments can’t contain warming. It means a massive loss of fish that people rely on for food, and the whole ecosystem unravels costing livelihoods and lives. That is the kind of reality we must face if governments don’t take notice of this report.”
“Political will can get us out of this and the UK government can choose whether to heed this report’s findings. Currently, they’re choosing to ignore the full weight of scientific consensus and are directly funding climate chaos by supporting fracking and other dirty industries.”
Clean growth minister Claire Perry says the government will unveil its next move to tackle climate change during Green GB Week, which is starting on 15 October. Experts hope it will bring the UK in line to be essentially carbon neutral by 2050, something that the IPCC report said would be crucial.
The report was welcomed by scientists, business leaders and politicians from around the world, who noted its dire warnings about what would happen to the planet beyond 1.5C and emphasised the need to take action - and fast.
Among the voices were some of representatives of small island states - tiny nations in areas like the Pacific Ocean who genuinely fear for the future of their countries if warming continues unabated. One Tongan activist told The Independent: "1.5C is a red line for our survival".
Amjad Abdulla, the chief negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States said: “The report shows that we only have the slimmest of opportunities remaining to avoid unthinkable damage to the climate system that supports life, as we know it. I have no doubt that historians will look back at these findings as one of the defining moments in the course of human affairs.”
“A crucial finding of the IPCC is the urgent need for the immediate provision of the means of implementation necessary to rapidly bring clean energy to scale around the world."
"I urge all civilised nations to take responsibility for the climate crisis by dramatically increasing our efforts to cut the emissions responsible for it, and to do what is necessary to help vulnerable people respond to some of the devastating consequences we now know can no longer be avoided."
The IPCC's report is perhaps the starkest warning yet about our future in a warmer world, especially if temperatures rise more than 1.5C
Welcome to The Independent's climate change live blog.
On the day that the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its game-changing report, we've started this blog to provide updates on the latest stories concerning global warming and efforts to stop it.
The next three months will mark a crucial period in the global struggle against climate change. Coming hot on the heels of the IPCC's report, a crucial UN climate change meeting for world leaders will take place in Katowice, Poland, in December. The aim is to establish rules that will guide governments' efforts to cut emissions and avert disaster.
The clear conclusion from the IPCC was that while progress has been made in recent years, there has been nowhere near enough action. Hopefully this will begin to change in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, join us as we track the science and politics behind the biggest news story in the world.
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