Great Big Green Week: WWF urge government to keep climate promises

To mark the launch of Great Big Green Week, WWF’s executive director of advocacy and campaigns, Katie White, has exclusively collated images for The Independent illustrating both how UK communities are united in the fight against the climate emergency, and why this is a fight that unites us all

Today marks the start of Great Big Green Week, which will see communities come together across the UK to celebrate action on the climate emergency, and call on the government to keep their climate promises, for the sake of people, nature and planet.

With nature in free fall and the climate in crisis, the clock is ticking for the planet – our one shared home. In this milestone year for environmental action, it’s fantastic to see thousands of people across the UK taking positive action during the Great Big Green Week. It’s hoped that this programme of community-led events will put a spotlight on our government, which urgently needs to deliver on every climate promise it has made.

As host of the crucial Cop26 climate summit, our country must now match its ambition with action. We won’t forget the government’s climate promises and, together with our supporters, we will hold government to account for delivering on them.

To mark the launch of Great Big Green Week we at WWF have collated some images illustrating both how UK communities are united in the fight against the climate crisis, and why this is a fight that unites us all. People, landscapes and wildlife across the UK are already feeling the impacts of the climate emergency, and so the UK public are raising their voices on the need for urgent political action.

Future generations deserve a safer climate. We won’t forget who steps up to the greatest challenge we’ve ever faced. And we won’t forget who shrinks from the test.

How the UK is impacted by the climate crisis

A mute swan paddles through plastic in Manchester. Plastic pollution is one of the most visible signs of the climate and nature crisis. Many waterbirds are dying as a result of pollution – whether microplastics or toxic algae due to rising temperatures (Sam Hobson/WWF-UK)

Elizabeth, six, left, and Mali, eight, watch the tide coming in on the Thames; as global sea levels rise, cities on coasts and tidal rivers will be first to feel the effects of increased flooding and will take the worst of the impacts (Britta Jaschinski/WWF-UK)

Many species and habitats are at risk if we do not limit warming to the 1.5C target set out in the Paris Agreement (Wild Wonders of Europe/Pal Hermansen/WWF )

A dried up river bed in Hertfordshire. The UK heatwaves in 2018 were made 30 times more likely by the climate emergency, and led to 8,500 heat-related deaths in the UK (Jiri Rezac/WWF-UK)

Many bee species are declining across the UK. Much of this is due to a reduction in the flowers they feed on, but the climate emergency is also playing a part, as parasites that attack the bees are becoming more common with the milder winters (Global Warming Images/WWF )

The climate crisis makes extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, hurricanes and floods, both more likely and more frequent. Here, flooded cars are pictured on Cockermouth Main Street (Global Warming Images/WWF)

The Great Big Green Week has been organised by The Climate Coalition, of which WWF is a member. The coalition is the UK’s largest group of people dedicated to action against the climate emergency, and members comprise more than 100 organisations. Thousands of people have signed up to get involved in hundreds of events; more than 3,000 events are planned to celebrate how communities are taking action to tackle the climate crisis and nature loss.

For more information on Great Big Green Week events go to Great Big Green Week. The Great Big Green Week is Climate Fringe Week in Scotland