Do we really only have ten years left to save the planet? What does this mean for immediate action, and where do we need to be by the 2030s? Given this really is an emergency, what can we all do to empower ourselves, understand what is happening and respond appropriately. Amongst the inaction, denial and confusion, how can we get into an effective position as first responders to our triple emergencies? Let's start by exploring some of the science and policy that needs to guide our emergency action.

In 2015, the Paris Agreement was signed by most of the world's nations to limit global heating to preferably 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels. This legally binding treaty was a watershed, marking a moment of hope that the international community could galvanize emergency action. Very quickly it became apparent that not enough progress or commitments were being made to make the Paris Agreement a reality. Leading scientists continued to put out further dire warnings. In 2018, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2018) made a rare bold statement in their special report that avoiding dangerous levels of global warming would now require rapid and far-reaching transitions in energy, land-use, built environment and infrastructure which are unprecedented in terms of scale. This was distilled for policy makers and the media as roughly a decade to halve greenhouse gas emissions on a journey to zero by about 2050, but equally that immediate and urgent action is needed year on year to achieve these.

The 2021 Glasgow climate talks at COP26 reinforced the same dire situation and lack of progress. Without a huge step change in commitments and action the Earth is heading to be a much hotter and less safe place for humans. In the same year in their 6th Assessment Report the IPCC (2021) stated that unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, limiting heating to 1.5°C will be beyond reach. This matters. One and a half degrees of heating does not sound much in the greater scheme of things. Our world is already about 1°C hotter and as a result the last few years have broken record after record in terms of floods, droughts, mega fires and super storms.