Tackling climate change
The continuing growth of greenhouse gas emissions could result in devastating consequences for people and nature.
Addressing climate change is central to the delivery of WWF’s two metagoals on protecting biodiversity and reducing humanity’s ecological footprint. Unless we stop average global temperatures from rising more than 2°C above the level recorded in pre-industrial times, we face a high risk of severe and irreversible changes in the planet’s natural systems. The consequences of changing weather patterns, warming seas and melting ice will be devastating for people and nature.
To stay below 2°C, global greenhouse gas emissions must peak within the next 10 years and then fall by at least 80% by 2050. This can only be done by reducing the world’s reliance on fossil fuels and preventing further destruction of tropical rainforests.
Even if global warming is successfully limited, some climate change is now inevitable. Strategies are therefore needed to help people and nature adapt where this is possible.
WWF seeks cuts in emissions at a UK, EU and global level that prevent global temperatures rising dangerously. We also help develop solutions that address the unavoidable effects of climate change, helping to protect what our conservation work has already achieved.