URV Senate, 26 June 2019

The scientific community has determined with virtual certainty that the anthropogenic intensification of the atmosphere’s natural greenhouse effect from the emission of greenhouse gases is primarily associated with the mass combustion of fossil fuels, the primary source of energy in today’s society. This has led to a disruption in the energy balance of our climate system, resulting in global warming, the driver of human-induced climate change and its associated impacts on the world's socioecosystems. There is already abundant evidence of the climate transition footprint, and more will be seen in the near future. 90% of the additional energy associated with the human intensification of the greenhouse effect is accumulated in the intermediate layers of the oceans. The oceans have also undergone marked acidification, with negative impacts on marine ecosystems. The cryosphere is shrinking, with a pronounced reduction in Arctic sea ice, in winter snow cover in the northern hemisphere, and in glacial mass in Greenland and in the alpine glaciers of Antarctica. Warming oceans and melting ice are resulting in rising sea levels that threaten low-lying coastal and delta areas as well as Pacific islands and atolls. In addition to all of this, the world is experiencing a dramatic loss of biodiversity and extinction of species, as well as the migrations of both terrestrial and marine species in longitude as well as latitude due to new climate conditions, impacts on different human and economic systems, and global insecurity resulting from the migratory pressures of the societies most vulnerable to climate change.

We are facing a situation of rapid climate transition to which today's society must respond urgently, adopting mitigation strategies to rapidly and progressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Fast and far-reaching transitions are needed that will involve all sectors of socio-economic activity and lead towards energy transition, changes in how agricultural land is used, changes to urban areas and infrastructure including transport and buildings, and also to industrial systems. Decisive measures must be adopted in all of these areas to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Society as a whole, economic and social agents, and especially governments must approve urgent measures to reduce emissions in all sectors of economic activity, without yielding to the temptation to make society exclusively responsible for reducing emissions. Governments and administrations must adopt the most effective measures to reduce emissions, and they must ensure compliance.

Manola Brunet

Professor of Geography at the URV and chair of the Commission for Climatology of the World Meteorological Organisation

Within the framework of the URV’s commitment to the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, the URV, by unanimous decision of its senate, will comply with the request for a declaration of a state of climate emergency and strengthen its commitment to the fight against climate change.