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Climate Emergency UK: Climate denial
Climate Emergency UK is a UK charity, whose stated aim is promoting local action on climate change by campaigners and local authorities.
It has produced Scorecards that it recommends should be used for assessing UK local authorities, and by local campaigners regarding climate action.
The Climate Emergency Scorecards are assessed here by a checklist for consistency with the IPCC regarding climate action.
The findings are that the Scorecards are not consistent with the climate science and what the IPCC says needs to be done. The IPCC is saying that there is a climate emergency. It is extraordinary that Climate Emergency UK in its choice of council actions is implying that there is not.
Climate Emergency UK is contributing to the widespread climate implicatory denial.
If it wants to help limit global warming to 1.5°C, Climate Emergency UK should halt its current assessment cycle and instead base local authority assessments on the Tyndall Centre reports for local authorities that indicate that urgent radical change is needed.
It has produced Scorecards that it recommends should be used for assessing UK local authorities, and by local campaigners regarding climate action.
The Climate Emergency Scorecards are assessed here by a checklist for consistency with the IPCC regarding climate action.
The findings are that the Scorecards are not consistent with the climate science and what the IPCC says needs to be done. The IPCC is saying that there is a climate emergency. It is extraordinary that Climate Emergency UK in its choice of council actions is implying that there is not.
Climate Emergency UK is contributing to the widespread climate implicatory denial.
If it wants to help limit global warming to 1.5°C, Climate Emergency UK should halt its current assessment cycle and instead base local authority assessments on the Tyndall Centre reports for local authorities that indicate that urgent radical change is needed.
Summary table Assessment against a checklist for consistency with the IPCC regarding climate action
| Climate action an overriding priority | Temperature limit e.g. 1.5°C | Keeping to the IPCC CO2 budget | Including equity between nations | Including all CO2 emissions | Double digit percentage annual emission cuts | Credibly compliant policies | Avoiding false solutions | Number of fails | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate Emergency UK |  | | | | N/A | | | | 7 |
This can be compared with the assessments for other groups via the summary table in document 154.
The organisation: Climate Emergency UK
Climate Emergency UK (https://www.climateemergency.uk/) is a UK charity, whose mission is "to inspire and provide the tools needed for campaigners and councils to take action on the climate and ecological emergency at a local level in the UK" [1].Project assessed: Council Climate Action Scorecards
The current focus of Climate Emergency UK is the Council Climate Action Scorecards, which aim to score UK local authorities via a set of criteria. This document is an assessment of the Scorecards using a checklist to assess consistency with the IPCC - see document 138.There are concerns that climate denial in various forms is widespread throughout society [2]. Some individuals and organisations accept the basic science of climate change, and the interpretation that the climate is changing due to burning of fossil fuels by mankind - but deny or minimise the psychological, political, and moral implications of the facts, fail to accept responsibility for responding, and fail to act in the way that the information implies. This is termed implicatory denial by sociologists [2].
The Climate Emergency UK Scorecards were assessed by review of the Scorecard questions [3] together with the Explanatory Text [4].
Assessment
A summary of the assessment is given at the top of this page. Details of the checklist elements are given here.1. Is climate action an overriding priority, on the basis of e.g. the gross injustice?
NO - there is no mention in the Scorecards or Explanatory Text of the international injustice or of other factors that make climate change an emergency.
2. Is a limit to global warming specified, generally 1.5°C?
NO - there is no specified limit to global warming.
3. Is there adherence to the IPCC CO2 budget? Is the mechanism for limiting global warming clearly stated to be limiting further total global CO2 emissions to the CO2 budget specified by the IPCC?
NO - there is no mention of the IPCC CO2 budget.
4. Is equity between nations incorporated? Are the implications of the international commitments to global equity properly taken into account, i.e. that developed nations cut emissions faster than the global average?
NO - there is no mention of global equity and the need to reduce UK emissions faster than the global average. Incidentally, the website displays a countdown timer showing "Time left to limit global warming to 1.5°C", showing years and days to a date in 2029, but ignoring global equity and the need for faster action in developed countries.
5. Are all CO2 emissions included, particularly those embodied in imports and exports and those from aviation and shipping?
Not applicable - no detailed national CO2 emission figures are discussed.
6. Is the size of appropriate annual emission cuts specified e.g. double digit percentage cuts in developed countries?
NO - targets for area-wide emission cuts over the 3-year period of 2019 to 2022 are given as just 2%, 5% or 10%, i.e. very diferent to what is needed to comply with the Paris Agreement. Furthermore these targets are given a low weighting - the question is just one of dozens of questions. There is no mention in the Scorecards of the reports for local authorities from the Tyndall Climate Centre at the University of Manchester [5]. These reports indicate that the speed of cuts needed is over 10% per year. With appropriate advice, they are a useful resource for local campaigners.
7. Credibly compliant policies Do any policies discussed comply with this timescale for urgent radical cuts in emissions?
NO - the policies discussed do not comply.
8. Are false solutions avoided?
NO - e.g. councils are awarded points for electric charging points and for tree planting.
In summary, Climate Emergency UK fails on all seven of the points on the checklist that are relevant.
Comment
The underlying idea of the Council Climate Action Scorecards is a good one - setting standards and assessing how well councils conform - but the standards used are the wrong standards.The Scorecard elements are not in line with the climate science, the IPCC, and the Paris Agreement - in particular, the questions are not in line with the calculated residual CO2 budgets - a council taking actions that would be just sufficient to score 100% on all the questions would have a totally inadequate response to the climate emergency. So the Scorecards imply there is no emergency, and are contradicting the IPCC.
There is no mention in the Scorecards of the reports for local authorities from the Tyndall Climate Centre at the University of Manchester [5]. These reports indicate the urgency of action with CO2 budgets for 1.5°C typically running out in 2026, needing emission cuts of over 10% per year. This is an extraordinary omission from the Scorecards.
Climate Emergency UK is contributing to the widespread implicatory climate denial [2].
Campaigners should not use the Scorecards as an indication of how well their council is performing. It is a tragedy that 30 years after there was agreement via the Rio Declaration to act to limit climate change, well-meaning people are still advocating inadequate action.
The project should be halted, and radically revised to bring it into line with the scientific consensus on the climate. The Tyndall Centre reports for local authorities [5] should be publicised. With appropriate advice, they are a useful resource for councils and local campaigners.
References
| [1] | https://www.climateemergency.uk/about-us/ (accessed 20.02.23). |
| [2] | Iain Walker and Zoe Leviston (2019) There are three types of climate change denier - and most of us are at least one The Conversation https://theconversation.com/there-are-three-types-of-climate-change-denier-and-most-of-us-are-at-least-one-124574 |
| [3] | Climate Emergency UK (2022) Scorecards questions https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n60Yl4uaQJ-FFuboQIZav4IOfw_ANvzg/view?usp=sharing. |
| [4] | Climate Emergency UK (2022) Scorecards: Explanatory Text https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uKisqqHsV7MaDCg63Ah0KEzinZFdlzjR/view. |
| [5] | Tyndall Centre The Tyndall carbon budget tool (2019) https://carbonbudget.manchester.ac.uk/reports/ |
First published: 6 Dec 2022
Last updated: 11 Oct 2023