When filmmaker Franny Armstrong launched the 10:10 campaign in September, her goal was to create a critical mass of citizens, companies, schools and universities to pressure the UK government to take more drastic action to slow climate change.
Everyone who signed up committed to reduce their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010 to help meet the overall goal of an 80% reduction in the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. With upfront cuts, the plan would avoid the emissions build-up expected under longer range goals — buildups that could push the world over a 2 degrees Celsius rise in global temperature, the threshold for “runaway climate change.”
In less than two months, the 10:10 campaign has hit its target: It got Parliament talking about serious greenhouse gas reductions.
The UK's House of Commons spent three hours yesterday debating whether to commit the entire government estate — representing 10% of the UK’s carbon emissions and 8% of the land — to the 10:10 pledge.
