Wednesday 30 March 2005

An image of the River Thames having risen high up the side of the Palace of Westminster, and the message "Vote to Stop Climate Chaos" was projected onto the building as part of a campaign to press politicians to take tougher action on climate change, particularly in the run-up to the general election

Already London and the South East are feeling the effects of climate change, and research shows that if current trends continue central London could be submerged within the next 100 years.

The Thames barrier has been activated 55 times in the twenty years since it was built as a result of tidal surges, half of which were in the last five years. The threat of flooding due to climate change is so severe that the government predicts the barrier may have to be raised up to 325 times a year by 2100. It is estimated that if just one flood broke through the Thames Barrier it would cost around £30bn in damage to London, roughly 2 per cent of GDP.

Unchecked climate change could also lead to a rise in summer temperatures of 5°C in London and the South-East and to a 30 per cent increase in winter rainfall and winter floods.

WWF will be using the general election period to demand that the next government commits to year on year reductions in carbon dioxide emissions - the main greenhouse gas - in order to achieve their target of a 20 per cent reduction by 2010.

WWF also projected the statement "69 per cent of people are worried about climate change - what are YOU going to do about it?" onto Battersea power station to highlight the government's failure to set tough limits on carbon dioxide pollution from industry.

Andrew Lee, Director of Campaigns at WWF, said: "British politicians have been guilty of a lot of rhetoric on climate change and very little action. We may only have a decade to take action to reduce soaring greenhouse gas emissions and prevent the worst impacts of climate change becoming reality. It is vital that the next government makes the right decisions over the next parliamentary term. Ignoring the issue is not an option."

In the week before the stunt at parliament, WWF released the results of a YouGov poll which showed that more than 1 in 3 (38 per cent) people believe climate change will cause problems in their lifetime and 69 per cent view it as a real threat. Nearly half of people (46 per cent) would support increasing taxes to subsidise transport fares to encourage people to use their cars less and 85 per cent of people support more government money going into the development of renewable energy like wind farms