Avoiding dangerous climate change is essential for the security and prosperity of 60 million Britons. The EU/UK has long taken the position that this means keeping the eventual rise in global average temperature to within 2 degrees of pre-industrial levels. A greater rise would create an increasing risk of direct disruption to people’s daily lives, as well as an unacceptably high risk of indirect further disruption through the stresses imposed by a changing climate on economies and security globally.  With impacts such as increased flooding, droughts and desertification, extinction of various plant and animal species, and disruption to food supplies. The number of refugees is likely to rise and millions of people could go hungry. The financial costs of flooding and insurance against bad weather are likely to rise substantially.

Keeping within 2 degrees requires a reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of at least 60-80% by 2050. This is not marginal: it is a fundamental and urgent transformation of the global energy system aimed at rendering it effectively carbon neutral by the middle of the century.

So what are UK institutions and citizens doing to achieve climate security around the world?