Edinburgh 'Votes Earth!'
2 October 2009
WWF Scotland’s Vote Earth! campaign hits Edinburgh
Residents and visitors to Edinburgh will have the opportunity to voice their concerns about climate change on Saturday 3rd October by signing a petition calling on world leaders to produce a strong, fair deal at the UN Climate Change talks in Copenhagen in December.
WWF Scotland will have a stall at the east end of Princes Street (10am – 4pm) on Saturday to promote the environmental group’s Vote Earth! campaign. This is one of many events across the country being held to raise public awareness and encourage people to let world leaders know how important climate change is to them. In order to ensure the rise in global temperature remains below 2°C it is vital other industrialised nations commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by similar amounts.
In June the Scottish Parliament passed the Scottish Climate Change Act, which includes a 42 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the toughest climate change legislation in the developed world. In order to ensure the rise in global temperature remains below 2°C it is vital other industrialised nations commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by similar amounts.
It is also crucial new and predictable public finance is provided to ensure developing countries can develop cleanly and deal with the impacts of climate change.
Dr Richard Dixon, Director of WWF Scotland said:
“WWF’s Vote Earth! campaign is a great way for the public to send a strong message to world leaders that they care about tackling climate change. The Copenhagen meeting is the most important discussion of climate change ever, with all the world's nations supposed to agree new targets.
"With less than 70 days until Copenhagen we urgently need other industrialised countries to follow the lead set by Scotland in setting tough reduction targets. We know Edinburgh's citizens will be happy to help us press world leaders for a strong, fair global climate deal."
Notes to Editors
[1] WWF’s Vote Earth campaign http://www.wwfscotland.org.uk/voteearth
[2] The UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen runs from 7-18th December (en.cop15.dk). Gordon Brown has recently announced that he will attend.
[3] WWF Scotland is part of Stop Climate Chaos, an alliance of development, environment and civil society groups aiming for tougher action to reduce emissions - http://stopclimatechaosscotland.org
SCCS will be helping organise a Climate Change march in Glasgow on the 5th December, 2009.
