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The People's Emergency Briefing: The underlying science

The People's Emergency Briefing is a film due to be launched on 7 April 2026.

The organisers of the film organised the National Emergency Briefing, a set of talks given at an event on 27 November 2025.

The organisers say the film will convey the key messages from the National Emergency Briefing.

This web page summarises the key points in the National Emergency Briefing talks given by climate scientists and other academics.

Key points on the climate emergency

Some of the key points in the NEB science presentations [1] were as follows.
Key points on the climate science
according to the National Emergency Briefing scientists
Decision making
  • Decision makers must listen to the science
  • There is much misinfomation
  • Nothing can be changed until it is faced (quoting James Baldwin)
  • "We have to be straight with people about the choices ahead"
An emergency situation
  • The situation is now extremely serious and extremely urgent
  • At current emissions, the planet will reach 1.5°C of global warming around 2030
  • Total global emissions are still rising
  • Nature is not a luxury - it is critical infrastructure
  • The UK's food supply is at risk
  • There is a risk of Government systems and institutions being overwhelmed
  • Globally, billions of lives are at risk
Curent action is inadequate
  • Climate action has been grossly inadequate
  • The UK's Net Zero 2050 timescale of emission cuts is not what the UK promised in the Paris Agreement - it would take 3 times the UK's fair share of the 1.5°C carbon budget
Radical change is needed
  • Current affluent, high-carbon lifestyles are unsustainable - and will end one way or another, either voluntarily or by a deteriorating climate with societal collapse
  • Every fraction of a degree matters because the risks of catastrophic tipping points steadily increase.
  • "We need transformational change now if we're going to survive"


Action needed on the climate emergency

UK policies that are aligned with climate science
according to the National Emergency Briefing scientists
  • Transformational change starting immediately
  • Fossil fuel use ended by 2030 - 2035
  • Air travel cut by over 80% by 2030
  • Manufacture of internal combustion engine cars ended immediately
  • Most car journeys in urban areas replaced by public transport / walking / cycling
  • Mass retrofitting of proper insulation for homes - and new homes to be zero carbon
  • A diet with far less meat and dairy products
  • A rapid shift to zero carbon electricity
  • Adding up to profound changes in social norms and in the lifestyles of the well-off
  • All justified by a recognition that current affluent, high-carbon lifestyles are unsustainable - and will end one way or another, either voluntarily or by a deteriorating climate with societal collapse.


Notes and sources

[1]For details, see carbonindependent.org/198.html, National Emergency Briefing: Inconsistencies, omissions and corrections needed

Started: 29 Mar 2026
Last updated: 6 Apr 2026     Page No: 199