Climate emergency plan
Introduction
The «state of climate emergency» or «climate emergency» is a measure adopted by various entities, cities and universities in response to the climate crisis.[1][2][3] This is one of the measures proposed by several environmental activists and groups such as Friends of the Earth, Ecologists in Action, Youth for the Climate, Extinction Rebellion, Seo Birdlife, WWF Spain, Unión Sindical Obrera or Greenpeace.[4][5][6] The statements have been well received by Greta Thunberg.[7].
The "state of climate emergency" involves the adoption of measures to reduce carbon emissions to zero within a given period and to exert political pressure on governments to become aware of the existing environmental crisis situation.[8][9].
History
After the Paris Agreement in April 2016, mobilization for the declaration of a climate emergency began in Australia through an open letter published in the Melbourne newspaper The Age on June 23, 2016.[10] The open letter was signed by 24 Australian scientists, politicians, businessmen and environmentalists.[11] In the open letter the following was communicated:
On December 5, 2016, at a meeting of the Darebin city council in Victoria "Victoria (Australia)") (Australia), the motion to declare a "state of climate emergency" was presented and unanimously approved in the following terms:
Darebin was the first city to declare a state of climate emergency.[14] On August 21, 2017, the city of Darebin approved the climate emergency plan, which involves implementing strategies related to: climate solutions (zero emissions across the economy and community lifestyle, CO2 removal); climate adaptation and resilience; community and business mobilization, involvement and education; advocacy to governments on climate policy and strategies at all levels in Australia and internationally; and research on climate solutions and development strategies.[15][16].
On April 21, 2019, Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg spoke before the British Parliament stating:
Following Greta Thunberg's statement before the British Parliament, coupled with student protests such as Youth for Climate and the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations, on April 28, 2019, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon declared a "state of climate emergency."[1][18] On May 1, the United Kingdom Parliament did the same.[19][20].
At the end of July 2019, more than 800 administrations (including state, regional and local administrations) in 16 countries had declared a climate emergency[21][22][23] and the measure was the subject of debate in places such as Spain,[24][25] Portugal,[26] Poland,[27] India[28] or the Czech Republic.[29].