Martin Brocklehurst Chair of the Citizen Science Global Partnership and AURORA Partner
António Guterres Head of the UN
“It is now “inevitable” that humanity will overshoot the target in the Paris climate agreement, with “devastating consequences” for the world”.
“Fewer than a third of the world’s nations (62 out of 197) have sent in their climate action plans, under the Paris agreement.”
“Governments need to rebalance representation at COPS so that civil society groups, particularly from Indigenous communities, will have a greater presence and influence than people paid by corporations.
“We all know what the lobbyists want,” he said. “It’s to increase their profits, with the price being paid by humankind.”
“When some step back, others can step forward. The arc of history will be with them” Never before has this statement been so true for climate change and the time has come for citizens of the world to step forward, and work together on a common agenda to drive change. As we watch the consequences of Government failure to hold to a 1.5C climate temperature rise, as we witness the damage and storms in Pakistan and Jamaca we essentially have FOUR choices:
- Wring our hands and do nothing and like lemmings run towards the cliff edge;
- Join the protest movements asking others to change;
- Vote for politicians that are serious about tackling climate change, or:
- take action ourselves that lower personal carbon emissions, and increase our personal prosperity.
Taking action is the vision behind the work of the global citizen science community. We are building a programme of work on proven pilot citizen science programmes that will allow citizens anywhere across the globe to measure, track and share their individual carbon footprints and invest and profit from the energy transition. Citizens in developed countries are responsible for 30% or more of carbon emission, from the way they heat and power their homes and for the transport decisions they take. Such citizens can make major savings in carbon emissions, lower their energy and transport costs and see a major shift in profits from the fossil fuel industry back into local communities. In developing nations the economic gains can be even greater as communities bypass obsolete fossil fuel technologies and move straight to new clean, cheaper and more flexible energy sources, often for the first time
By working together, sharing experiences, building on our local success, we can achieve a cleaner, greener , more prosperous future. The EU funded AURORA citizen science project, Tackling Climate Change is proving this can be done, as are similar projects such as PS Lifetyle, StepChange and Fulfill. Each tackling the problem in their own way, each capable of being scaled from local pilots to nationwide programmes, that take on a momentum all of their own as the infrastruture to share their outputs is shared at European and then global levels. Building on millions of Euros of investment, linking to US based citizen science programmes such as the Globe Programme, but above all sharing our experiences through the network of citizen science programmes in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, South and Central America. We can grow a programme in which millions share and reduce their carbon footprint, and combine to develop energy communities that share the profits that flow from installing renewable energy.
The AURORA project is now working with EU Climate Pact Ambassadors, with the US based GLOBE programme, with the EU Educate for Climate Programme, with representatives from all the Regional Citizen Science Associations and under the auspices of the Citizen Science Global Partnership to develop a route map, and business plan to show how a global programme on citizen science and climate change can be achieved.
We will present our ideas at an event during UNEA7 (December 2025), when nations of the world gather in Nairobi Kenya to put in place global resolutions designed to tackle the great environmental challenges of our time. We will argue that citizen science should be a key part of the implementation plans for all major agreed resolutions. As Martin Brocklehurst who is heading up the citizen science delegation to UNEA made clear. “resolutions are merely words on paper without effective implementation. You can have the best regulations in the world, but without effective implementation. We are all wasting our time” .
Will you just stand by and watch the approaching disasters unfold or will you take personal responsibility. Let’s show the world you care and for the weeks ahead of UNEA7 please download the AURORA Energy Tracker app – https://www.aurora-h2020.eu/aurora/ourapp/and test and measure your carbon footprint. Even better declare your interest and share your experience on the LinkedIn Citizen Science Climate Change Group – https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12942018/
STEP FORWARD AND JOIN THE ARC OF HISTORY BUILT ON CLEAN, FREELY AVAILABLE RENEWABLE ENERGY.
BE PART OF THE MILLIONS OF CITIZEN SCIENTISTS WHO ARE SHOWING GLOBALLY THAT THEY CARE AND THAT THEY DARE TO DRIVE CHANGE.
MAKE FOSSIL FUELS HISTORY.
