Science Based Targets

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) recently announced that global temperatures need to be limited to 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels, as opposed to the previously calculated 2oC. The report warned that we have 12 years in which to turn things around. This has been a huge global call to action for worldwide decarbonisation to occur, and urgently. The severity of consequences between 1.5 and 2 is stark, as depicted in this infographic courtesy of the World Resources Institute (WRI).

One key action that organisations can take is to set science-based targets (SBTs). These are environmental targets that are set in line with the global targets, making them more robust and meaningful and in line with climate science. Note, the current SBTs have been in line with the 2oC limit, however an update is due in early 2019 which will address the new limit of 1.5oC. This is a global movement, designed to future-proof companies and limit catastrophic climate change as far as possible. At present, over 500 organisations are taken science-based climate action