{"id":19625,"date":"2018-12-02T07:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-12-02T06:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=19625"},"modified":"2019-11-06T09:47:44","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:47:44","slug":"no-excuses-climate-on-fire-time-to-act-greenpeace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/press-release\/19625\/no-excuses-climate-on-fire-time-to-act-greenpeace\/","title":{"rendered":"No excuses \u2013 our climate is on fire and it\u2019s time to act: Greenpeace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katowice, Poland, 2 December 2018 \u2013 The warning that we have just 12 years left to save the climate must now result at COP24 in a bold commitment to accelerated climate action, Greenpeace said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Greenpeace\u2019s head of delegation at COP24 Jens Mattias Clausen said:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re on a fast road to suffering unless we act now. People are already dying from the impacts of climate change. This is the harsh reality that leaders must confront at COP24. They are the last generation of leaders who still have the time to act. They must put the Paris Agreement to work and ramp up action now. Only through fast, bold change can we alter the course of history.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe window of opportunity is open \u2013 but only just. Climate science still provides hope, but the time for political talk has long gone. People are clamouring for action. Children are walking out of schools, the vulnerable are calling for justice or launching lawsuits and communities are standing up to defend their forests. Which leader will stand with them and deliver them reasons for hope?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Greenpeace Poland campaigner Pawe\u0142 Szypulski said:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHeavily dependent on coal plants and planning to build a new one, the Polish government must answer where it truly stands. Will it stand on the side of climate science and the people, or against them? This is the third COP in 10 years Poland has hosted and what has changed? Talk of common sense over climate science indicates that no progress has been made in the country’s thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a major coal utility like PGE as one of COP24\u2019s sponsors sends the wrongest possible signal at the wrongest possible time. The climate is fast approaching a breaking point and as COP24 host, Poland must finally reject coal and drive climate ambition. There are no second chances.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s COP comes in the wake of clear and urgent warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the UN Environment Programme. [1] In the face of such dire warnings, however, there are glimmers of hope emerging.<\/span><\/p>\n