Climate emergency declaration

A climate emergency declaration or declaring a climate emergency is an action taken by governments and scientists^[1] to acknowledge humanity is in a climate crisis.

The first such declaration was made by a local government in December 2016.^[2] Since then over 2,100 local governments in 39 countries have made climate emergency declarations As of May 2022^[update]. Populations covered by jurisdictions that have declared a climate emergency amount to over 1 billion citizens.^[3]

On 29 April 2019, the Welsh Government declared a climate emergency, which was subsequently passed by its parliament, the Senedd, on 1 May 2019, when it became the first in the world to officially declare a climate emergency.^[4][5][6]

Once a government makes a declaration, the next step for the declaring government is to set priorities to mitigate climate change, prior to ultimately entering a state of emergency or equivalent.^[7] In declaring a climate emergency, a government admits that climate change (or global warming) exists and that the measures taken up to this point are not enough to limit the changes brought by it. The decision stresses the need for the government and administration to devise measures that try to stop human-caused global warming.^[8][9]

The declarations can be made on different levels, for example, at a national or local government level, and they can differ in depth and detail in their guidelines. The term climate emergency does not only describe formal decisions, but also includes actions to avert climate breakdown. This is supposed to justify and focus the governing body towards climate action. The specific term emergency is used to assign priority to the topic, and to generate a mindset of urgency.

The term climate emergency has been promoted by climate activists and pro-climate action politicians to add a sense of urgency for responding to a long-term problem.^[10] A United Nations Development Programme survey of public opinion in 50 countries found that sixty-four percent of 1.2 million respondents believe climate change is a global emergency.^[11]