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18 November 2020

King's part of Alliance urging G20 leaders to prioritise net zero emissions

The International Universities Climate Alliance will issue its first declaration ahead of the G20 Summit this weekend.

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King’s College London, together with other international universities leading in climate research, will issue its first declaration ahead of the G20 Summit on 21 and 22 November 2020.

The International Universities Climate Alliance, in which King’s is a member, spans all populated continents, representing one-third of the 100 highest performing climate research universities and a quarter of the top 100 environmental research universities worldwide.

Its Declaration implores world leaders to use the post-COVID recovery to implement measures to counteract climate change, warning that failure to do so will lock in catastrophic consequences for generations to come. Regional media events will be held with a panel of speakers from Asia Pacific and UK university members.

There has never been a more important time for leaders in the climate change arena to come together for real, global change. Together, our minds, resources and networks have the ability to educate, innovate and implement, ensuring we are making a significant contribution to a more sustainable, green and diverse world.

Professor Ed Byrne, President and Principal of King’s College London

UK climate experts have a long history of supporting national and international decision-makers with the evidence-base for climate action including contributions to United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, UK Climate Change Risk Assessments, UK carbon budgets and regional climate assemblies.

The Climate Alliance is unprecedented in scale and scope and will support world leaders, policy makers and industry in planning for, and responding to, climate change. The advent of the Climate Alliance comes at a time when momentum is building for countries to decarbonise their economies. In recent months there have been moves by various nations to fortify incremental efforts with policies and actions equal to the urgency of the situation.

The Alliance will provide a central hub for universities to share the latest climate research and enable greater collaboration between leading research teams.

In this story

Professor Sir Edward Byrne AC

Former President & Principal of King's College London

Prof Frans Berkhout

Assistant Principal (King’s Climate & Sustainability)