On May 9 2024 the Guardian published a list of the most powerful climate actions you can take as recommended by 380 experts. These experts have written reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.

This follows an article on the previous day which reported that hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C above preindustrial levels this century, well beyond the internationally agreed 1.5C target and causing catastrophic consequences for humanity and the planet.

Numerous experts said they had been left feeling hopeless, infuriated and scared by the failure of governments to act despite the clear scientific evidence provided.

The BBC published an article on 4 May listing many of the failures of the UK government to act fast enough to achieve its targets. This includes Rishi Sunak’s recent decision to delay a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035. It also includes the Labour Party’s reduction of its pledge for additional capital expenditure available to meet the Net Zero target from to make £28 billion per year to around £5 billion should Labour form the next government.

So what do the IPCC experts recommend ordinary people should do?

Vote for politicians who pledge strong climate measures

Three-quarters of the experts backed voting for politicians who pledge strong climate measures. And, as we have mentioned above, pledges can be broken, so perhaps it would be better to add “and keep their pledges”. This seems to rule out voting either Conservative or Labour in a general election.

Fly less, use public transport more

The second choice for most effective individual action, according to the experts, was reducing flying and fossil-fuel powered transport in favour of electric and public transport.

Flying is the most polluting activity an individual can undertake and makes up a large part of the carbon footprint of the rich. Globally it is a small minority of people who drive aviation emissions, with only about one in 10 flying at all.

Eat less meat

Meat production has a huge impact on the environment. Most people in wealthy countries already eat more meat than is healthy for us and more than 60% of the scientists said they had cut their own meat consumption. Almost 30% of the experts said eating less meat was the most effective climate action.

Reduce emissions from your home

Around 30% of experts backed cutting emissions from heating or cooling homes, for example by installing heat pumps, insulating your home, wearing more clothes in winter instead of turning up the heating and so on.

Other suggestions by the experts

The guardian article included several other ideas for things you can do to reduce your emissions. Read the article here.

Other CovCAN suggestions