The All-Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group (APPCCG) and Policy Connect are pleased to announce we are hosting student climate activist Greta Thunberg at a special parliamentary reception.

The event is open to all Members of Parliament. Please RSVP to jacob.ainscough [at] policyconnect.org.uk (jacob[dot]ainscough[at]policyconnect[dot]org[dot]uk) is you wish to attend. 

In August 2018 Swedish student Greta Thunberg skipped school to sit down outside the Swedish parliament with her now famous sign reading ‘skolstrejk för klimatet (school strike for climate)’. Greta’s strike found echoes around the world and set off a global movement of student action to highlight the urgency of the climate crisis.

As the realities of a 2 degrees centigrade warmer world become clearer, there is a growing realisation of the need to keep warming below 1.5 degrees centigrade. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warn that this requires cutting net emissions to zero by 2050 at the very latest. In recognition of this, the UK Government asked the Committee on Climate Change to advise on the UK’s current long range carbon reduction target (80% reduction from 1990 levels by 2050); with a report due in early May.

Driven by Government action, annual reductions of UK domestic emissions have picked up greatly since 2012, to 3% per year. Yet to reach net zero by 2050 this needs to more than double to at least 8% per year for all subsequent years. It is in this context that the student striker’s central message of urgency resonates so strongly.

This event is an opportunity for Members of Parliament to hear Greta’s message directly at a time when calls for bolder action on climate change are growing both inside and outside Westminster. 

In association with Amnesty International, Climate Coalition, WWF, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Labour Environment Network (SERA), the Conservative Environment Network (CEN), Green Alliance, UKYCC, UK Student Climate Network.