2017 record temperature ‘should focus the minds of world leaders’ on ‘scale and urgency’ of the risks of climate change
Commenting on the publication of global temperature figures for 2017 Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said:
“These figures confirm that 2017 was a record year globally, the warmest without the additional boost of an El Niño. The global average temperature is now 1 Celsius degree warmer than in pre-industrial time. This record warm year has also been accompanied by exceptional extreme weather events around the world, including devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean and United States. All countries are exposed to the growing impacts of climate change. This year governments are due to start the process of assessing the size of the gap between their collective ambitions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the goals of the Paris Agreement. The record temperature should focus the minds of world leaders, including President Trump, on the scale and urgency of the risks that people, rich and poor, face around the world from climate change.”
For more information about this media release please contact Victoria Druce on +44 (0) 20 7107 5865 or v.druce@lse.ac.uk or Bob Ward on +44 (0) 7811 320346 or r.e.ward@lse.ac.uk.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
- The ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy (https://www.cccep.ac.uk/) is hosted by the University of Leeds and the London School of Economics and Political Science. It is funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (https://www.esrc.ac.uk/). The Centre’s mission is to advance public and private action on climate change through rigorous, innovative research.
- The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment (https://www.lse.ac.uk/grantham) was launched at the London School of Economics and Political Science in October 2008. It is funded by The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment (https://www.granthamfoundation.org/).
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