Urgent G20 and COP 26 Priorities for a Healthy Climate
Healthy Planet Action Coalition
January 26, 2021
July 26, 2021
Dear World Leader:
We are an international network of scientists, engineers, physicists, biologists, and public policy experts
active in the climate change arena. We are calling upon you for leadership at G20 in Rome and COP 26 in
Glasgow to accelerate the global response to the planetary climate crisis and prevent catastrophic
temperature increases.
Modeling and policies have to date lagged behind the increasing pace and impacts of the climate crisis. In
reality, the world is already experiencing dangerous climate change:
● Global warming is devastating coral reefs and rainforests, intensifying forest fires, increasing
extreme weather, raising sea levels, spreading deserts, and decreasing crop yields.
● Crucial regions of the cryosphere are melting, including glaciers, sea ice, and permafrost.1
Although rapidly achieving net zero emissions is critical, reducing greenhouse gas emissions alone will
not avert the climate security emergency confronting us.2 Even if most countries greatly increase their
commitments and breakthroughs expedite the transition to emission-free technologies, the 2°C target will
still be overshot due to systemic inertia from legacy greenhouse gases, warming oceans, and the decades
required to replace existing infrastructure.
The total cumulative CO2 emissions released to date are consistent with the worst-case IPCC scenario.3
All CMIP modeling suggests that the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C will be reached around 2030 or 2035.
Rising temperatures are likely to have imminent catastrophic impacts, including:
● Warming above 1.5°C will make much of the tropics unlivable.
● Rising global temperatures are accelerating the melt of the Greenland Ice Sheet (which would
raise sea levels by seven meters).
● 20% to 30% of the world’s land surface will become significantly drier and less productive with
less than a 2°C rise.
