Thread by @ElizMizon

What @uksciencechief Sir Patrick Vallance, and other scientists on the call, said in Monday's #ClimateBriefing to MPs: a thread 🧵🪡

[1/17]

[Video in final tweet, thanks @Angus_Climate @CarolineLucas for making this happen & all MPs who attended - release the list!)

1) "Technology is not a magic solution and it will not solve [climate crisis] on its own. [...] Any technology that you can't see already is not gonna save our bacon, it's absolutely not gonna get us out of this" because of the scale of the problem and solutions needed. [2/17]

2) "The timescale of this is such that 2050 is not a long way away, because you can't get things done at scale if you leave them a long time. That's why now is an important period" [3/17]

3) "This is a systems-wide problem. It affects virtually every part of every department, and therefore you need a systems approach - it can't be one where you cherry-pick the odd thing and hope to reach a solution." [4/17]

Vallance hands over to @MetOffice's Stephen Belcher:
"It's fitting to be giving this presentation on the day that Met Office has issued an extreme heat warning for next week. We're watching things very closely." [5/17]

"I want to echo Patrick's point about urgency. The longer we delay cutting emissions, the faster we are going to have to cut emissions if we're going to keep 1.5° within reach"
(NB: many scientists have said that 1.5 is now impossible - but every fraction of a ° will help) [6/17]

The reason they say that can be seen in a later slide: if ALL the COP pledges made are achieved, we will keep to 1.8°
But - we are not on track to keep our pledges. Keeping to those now requires "huge action", says Stephen Belcher. [7/17]

Cambridge University's Prof @emilyshuckburgh then goes on to explain that UK emissions have seen "very little change" over last 30y other than in electricity generation, where they have fallen considerably [8/17]

The govt has in the past given blanket statements that 'emissions are falling' in response - Prof. Shuckburgh says "emissions reductions need to speed up and happen in a wider range of sectors".

She notes this needs to happen "by the 2030s".

So... now. [9/17]

This reinforces what @uksciencechief said: "this is not just about technology, it's also about the behavioural change required to reach Net Zero".
Not only do we need to rapidly transition to electric vehicles, but drive less generally, in favour of walking and cycling. [10/17]

This all adds up to climate crisis being the "most predictable and preventable" of all current global crises, and **will underpin and worsen the others**. [11/17]

Chief Scientific Adviser of @DefraGovUK, @GideonHenderson says "the science of climate change is now very mature and we're able to predict what will happen to climate" [12/17]

Worth noting that at this point we see a few attendees on screen:
Baroness Boycott
Baroness Parminter
@MGreenwoodWW (Lab)
@amcarmichaelMP (Lib Dem)
@CatherineWest1 (Lab)
@BenMLake (Plaid Cymru)

Thank you for your attendance! [13/17]

More from Henderson: "in blue the sea level rise for a low emissions scenario, in orange for high emissions scenario [...] this will impact most of our cities, which tend to be coastal." [14/17]

This will be particularly acute in the South, with the "Thames barrier needing replacement as the century goes on and London possibly becoming undefendable [from flooding] if we are to pursue a high emissions scenario" [15/17]

Couple of final slides show something key:
1) This is neocolonialism. The briefing covers the UK's scary situation, but Fig. 1 shows just how much worse it will be for (low-emitting) 'global south'
2) This is systemic. When we say govt/media should be centralising this... [16/17]

...it's because it's central. To everything. [17/17]

These are just snippets. The briefing is accessible, interesting, and can be watched at 1.5 speed if you're short on time ;)

Thanks @Policy_Connect for hosting: