Global warming

Scientists have warned us this week that the global sea level looks set to rise far higher than forecast because of changes in the polar ice-sheets. We need strong leaders that will pull together to avert the threat of runaway climate change within our lifetimes. I am calling on you, as a global citizen who has the power to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, to provide the funding required to tackle climate change in developing countries.

We ask that you support a new funding mechanism and propose concrete public financial support for climate action at next week’s EU Summit in Brussels, instead of promises of investments from the private sector, which you can neither predict nor control. Developing countries need at least EUR 110 billion a year by 2020 from rich countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The European Union needs to pay EUR 35 billion, which is its fair share, based on its responsibility for climate change and its ability to pay. You speak of solidarity. We trust you recognise that the time has come to show its solidarity with countries around the globe who must pull together to avert the climate crisis. If you let us down next week, you will undermine progress towards the new international agreement on climate protection in Copenhagen in December. If that fails it will cost us the Earth.