The First Isle of Man Carbon Budget: An Inconvenient Truth

We have 7 Years to become Carbon Zero*

*of carbon budget at current emissions figures to give a 50% chance of avoiding 1.5°C of warming (above pre-industrial levels)

The Isle of Man Green Party anticipated that on Thursday 9 January 2020, the Climate Change Emergency Transformation Team ("CCETT") led by Professor James Curran would release its climate change action plan to reduce Isle of Man emissions to net zero by 2050. Although the release of the action plan is welcomed the Green Party considers that the objective of net zero emissions by 2050 entirely warps the reality of the challenges facing our community and our Biosphere Island.

To assist our community in coming to terms with the time line and implications of the changing climate, the Green Party has produced the first calculation of a carbon budget for the Isle of Man. A carbon budget allows each country to determine their own carbon dioxide emissions target from a global total budget calculated by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ("IPCC"). Carbon budgets are based on a defined share of the total global carbon dioxide emissions that would lead to an increase in global average temperature of 1.5°C (or more) from pre-industrial levels.

This first carbon budget produced for the Isle of Man identifies that if, from today, Isle of Man emissions per head were the same for every human on the planet, there would be a 50% probability that global average temperatures would increase by 1.5°C by 2026 (from pre-industrial levels). Emitting more carbon dioxide than we are entitled to under the carbon budget means that once it is exhausted, we will be spending someone else's budget. From today, every year that goes by without a reduction in emissions, the challenges facing our community for the future increase.

As we enter a new decade and face the changing climate of a world already nearing 1°C of warming (from pre-industrial levels), this is the time for the Government to lead immediate and lasting change. The 'Curran Report' will hopefully provide us clarity as to how this can be done but it is clear from the pressing urgency of our diminishing carbon budget, that action must be brought forward to today.

Leader of the Isle of Man Green Party, Andrew Langan-Newton said:
"If every person in our Biosphere community is to be able to make informed choices on matters that will impact our future, the politicians must show leadership in setting out what we need to do as well as how long we have left to do it in."

Read the full report produced by the Isle of Man Green Party containing the Carbon Budget here.

The Isle of Man Green Party is a registered political party running political candidates to lead sustainable change for the Isle of Man.