A few days before the COP 25 (2‑13 December 2019, Madrid)1, the European Parliament declared a ‘climate emergency’ in the European Union (EU). This made Europe the first continent to take steps to, which although symbolic in part, put more pressure on governments to implement tangible solutions to combat climate change.
The recent Emissions Gap Report, presented by the United Nations Environment Programme, warns that unless global greenhouse gas emissions reduce by around 7.6% per year between 2020 and 2030, the world will fall short of the Paris Accord commitment, which is to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5°C. A huge effort is needed – around five times more – to achieve this, particularly as despite several international commitments and growing public awareness, new greenhouse gas emission records were set in 2018 and 2019 followed this trend.
