Christian Aid urges EC not to turn its back on climate victims

After Typhoon Haiyan- image Caritas

Christian Aid today urged the UK Government not to neglect the victims of climate change in the Philippines and elsewhere after the European Commission recommended weak emissions targets for 2030.

The lack of ambitious reduction targets in today’s White Paper will fail to push European countries far enough in tackling the emissions which cause climate change, endangering the commitment of keeping the global temperature rise under two degrees.

Christian Aid’s Senior Climate Change Adviser, Dr Alison Doig, said: "We are already starting to see the significant impacts of climate change in the UK and around the world. In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, continued drought across parts of Africa and David Cameron making the link between climate change and the recent UK floods, much greater urgency is needed. It is time for our political leaders to stop taking half measures and pretending they are enough, and instead acting swiftly to move our economies towards the low-carbon future we need.

"The EC’s new recommendation is below the goal proposed by the UK of 50 per cent, and well below what will be needed to put a halt to climate change. We need the UK to fill the leadership gap and encourage the EU not to turn its back on the people most at risk from climate change."

Denise Fontanilla, advocacy officer of Christian Aid partner organisation Aksyon Klima, a Philippine-based climate advocacy group, said the target was a slap in the face to Filipinos still recovering from Typhoon Haiyan: "This low target insults not only Haiyan survivors but everyone dealing with extreme weather events made even worse by climate change. The UK and EU must make drastic emissions cuts in the face of the new normal."