Climate Change Exchange

EU says ‘I do’ to the Kyoto Protocol

 

Today Time for Climate Justice campaigners called on the EU to say ‘I do’ to the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol at COP17. A blushing bride (Kyoto) and a handsome groom (EU) had they renewal of vows blessed as campaigners handed out wedding invitations and sweets that said I (heart) Kyoto.

The happy couple refused gifts but asked all Annex–I parties to join them in the renewal of their vows.

The couple waved and smiled and the bride even threw her bouquet to the watching crowds. The activity drew lots of attention as people had their picture taken with the wedding party.

Media from South Africa, China, India and Sweden came to film the event.

The EU must take this chance in Durban to sign up to a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and to encourage others to join them.

We wish the pair a long and happy second commitment period.

 

Deliver climate finance

  

It’s the final week of negotiations at the UN climate talks in Durban, South Africa and the conference centre is abuzz as ministers and head of states begin to arrive. 

Also going up a gear is the campaigning taking place here.  Today Time for Climate Jusitce campaigners with partners from the Global North and South joined forces to call for climate finance. Under a warm summer sky in Durban, we  called for the Green Climate Fund to be filled, so the poorest countries are supported to develop cleanly and adapt to a changing climate.

Campaigners distributed money shaped leaflets and shook empty buckets labelled ‘Green Climate Fund’ to illustrate that the fund is currently empty and we need the rich nations to commit to filling it. Despite a long negotiation process the pledges given by rich countries to provide new and additional funding (beyond aid) to poor countries has not yet been delivered .This threatens lives and livelihoods of the world’s poorest.

As the climate crisis worsens, poor countries increasingly have to make themselves more resilient to the impacts of climate change and protect their citizens from disasters, but all of this comes with a price tag. The stunt attracted a lot of attention with press from countries such as Sweden, Norway, Mozambique,  China and South Africa filming the event.

Time for Climate Justice will be at the UN talks for the rest of the week to continue to demand climate justice.

 

 

Global Day of Action against climate change in Durban - marching for climate justice!

On Saturday 3rd December as part of a global day of action for climate justice,  Time for Climate Justice, We have faith - Act now for Climate Jusitce and ACT Alliance campaigners marched together with thousands of other thousand campaigners from across the globe  through downtown Durban to demand that delegates deliver emissions cuts and climate finance making the climate jusitce message heard loud.

As negotiators continued to wrangle in the conference centre, the city was awash with banners, balloons, placards and even a few vuvuzelas as people – many of whom do not have access to the UN meetings – took to the streets to make their voices heard.

In marked contrast to the sluggish progress of negotiations over the past week, energy levels on the streets were high.  Demonstrators, from countries such as China, USA, India, Brazil, Cuba and a range of African nations, braved scorching sun and bursts of rain to dance, sing and even do exercises in support of their message that delegates must overcome political obstacles and agree a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol.

Young people who had travelled by bus from Kenya to Durban as part of the We Have Faith Youth Caravan, stripped to the waist and did 17 press-ups in the street to show that they were tired of the lack of progress delivered after a succession of UN meetings. ‘We did not come to Durban to shop, we came for justice,’ said one.

Meanwhile campaigning groups – ranging from the Time For Climate Justice coalition to Greenpeace to African rural women’s associations  -  waved placards and marched behind banners calling for a fair climate deal for the world’s poor. The noise of the march was clearly audible from within the negotiating centre. Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of UN climate talks took to a makeshift stage to address the crowd.

Protestors must now hope that the passion and urgency that they showed on the streets will filter through into the negotiating centre as talks continue next week.

Climate Justice Caravanites met with Mary Robinson

Former Irish president Mary Robinson has told African activists that their accounts of the devastating impact of climate change must be heard at COP17. Speaking yesterday to a group of around 50 campaigners at KwaZulu-Natal University in Durban, she said: “It is your voices that should be heard at this conference. I have heard more urgency in this room than I have heard in the big hall (of the COP conference centre).” And addressing their frustration that they have not been allowed to enter the conference centre to speak to delegates, she said: “I can promise you that I will use what you have told me on every opportunity that I have.” 

She was speaking to activists from 10 African countries, many of whom had travelled more than 7000km to Durban on a climate change awareness-raising journey named the Caravan of Hope, organised by African climate change network PACJA. Among them were farmers, women’s rights campaigners and young people who explained how lives were already being affected by climate change in their communities.

Save Kyoto, Save us all

Time for Climate Justice Campaigners at the Save Kyoto stunt this morning

Ahoy COP17 delegates! 

The world is on course for a climate catastrophe that will affect the poorest first and hardest. For these two weeks in Durban, our leaders have a chance to turn the ship around.

We need all nations to pull together to address climate change. We cannot allow the only international legally- binding climate regime to fall apart in the face of such a global threat.

The only way to ensure we tackle the threat of climate change is if world leaders agree to the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (KP). The future of the KP is in serious danger and the governments of the world need to start taking big decisions. In this time of crisis, we need all hands on deck.

The parties of the KP cannot wait for the US to come on board. We are calling on the EU to show its leadership and promote the principles of fairness on which the KP is based.

The UN is committed to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. This means equity. This means fairness for those who have contributed the least, yet are the most affected by our changing climate. This means climate justice for all. As we watch the world gathering in the port of Durban, agreement of a second commitment period of the KP has never been more urgent.

We are all in the same boat, and we will sink or swim together.

It’s time for climate justice.

 Save Kyoto.

 

 

Climate justice rally kicks off Durban talks

Time for Climate justice campaigners are among thousands of delegates from across the world who have descended on Durban, South Africa, for the United Nations climate change talks that begin today.

For many of us, though, Durban started last night with a vibrant rally in the rugby stadium in Durban.Activists from across Africa and around the world came together to dance to Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Yvonne Chaka Chaka and to hear from global faith leaders.

 For over a year, the Time For Climate Justice campaign (that Christian Aid is a founding member of) has been collecting photos calling for climate justice, and at the rally Desmond Tutu handed these over to UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres.In an emotional speech Figueres reminded us that this is a long process but that we can take a step forward here in Durban.

It was a truly inspiring event and even the rain at the end didn’t dampen the spirits!With the calls for climate justice resonating in our ears we now turn our attention to the UN talks themselves and to our task of making sure the energy and passion for climate justice shown at the rally penetrates into the more hushed corridors of the conference.

    Time for Climate Justice is at the UN meetings to call for the developed nations to sign up to a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol – in other words for the richest nations to agree to legally binding emissions cuts and make sure that the poorest’s right to develop is safeguarded.

Climate talks back on track but problems remain

Agreement has been reached at the climate change talks in Cancun. Countries have agreed to establish a Green Climate Fund for developing countries and thrown a lifeline for a more comprehensive deal to be reached next year in South Africa.

'Copenhagen derailed the world's effort to solve the climate crisis but here in Cancun, negotiators have just about heaved it back on track,' said Mohamed Adow, Senior Adviser on Global Advocacy at Christian Aid.

However, it leaves the future of the Kyoto protocol still hanging in the balance and countries need to go much further if the world´s poorest people are to be protected against climate change.

Kyoto is the only international treaty that exists to ensure rich countries – those most responsible for causing climate change - cut their carbon emissions in line with what the science demands.

 

Dispute between countries on the its future has been the abiding theme of the conference after Japan announced they would not be signing up to a second commitment period after 2012. This caused wide spread condemnation here in Mexico and across the world.

A compromise was finally reached to continue discussions but the future of the Kyoto protocol remains in jeopardy.

Although countries recognise that emission pledges are not sufficient, another concern is that the Cancun conclusion is silent on how far global emissions must be reduced to keep the temperature rise within safe levels.

Although there has been agreement to establish a Green Climate Fund for developing countries, there are no details on where this money will come from and there is also concern about the role the World Bank might play because of its poor record of protecting people and the environment.

 

This is not the fair, ambitious and binding deal the world needs but agreement here sends a strong signal that the world is ready to move forward and is a stepping stone to a deal. It is now left for leaders to find the political will to ensure significant progress is made in the coming year.

Can Japan save Kyoto?

It's the final day of the UN climate change conference in Cancun.  Negotiations have continued throughout the night and it is agreement over the future of the Kyoto protocol and the legal form of any agreement which is still delaying progress.

As campaigners in the UK took part in a stunt outside the Japanese embassy, here in Cancun an attempt to stage another stunt was blocked by the organisers.  It is a symptom of the reduced access civil society has had to the negotiations this year, which has just prompted a protest by the Climate Justice Now network.  Campaigners are standing near the main hall with UNFCCC tape over their mouths - their message being that the global South is being silenced.

And the only thing that binds rich countries to cutting their emissions - the Kyoto protocol - is sick.  Can Japan, Russia, and other countries save it, and the world's people from an uncertain future? We still have a few hours to find out...

Cristal Ball?

Mariana Paoli writes... 

I can’t believe that I’ve been here in Cancun for almost 2 weeks. The climate negotiations will finish tomorrow and no major outcome is expected. Lack of political will? Yes, but maybe this was something we expected. To be fair, I think  that South Africa realised that and they have chosen (I hope) the right slogan for the COP17 in Durban next year: It is possible!

So my wish list is the following:

1) I hope decision makers achieve meaningful progress towards an agreement that is fair and protects the interest of the world’s  poorest

2) I hope to work together with a strong  climate justice movement and that civil society is given more space to interact and be heard by world leaders

3) I hope we do not have to travel in a bus for 20 minutes between the 2 buildings where the negotiations are taking place.

4)I hope I don’t have to work  late nights at the lobby of a hotel full of crazy American tourists on holiday who drink beer in green plastic cups!

 

Energy, the World Bank and social protest

Sarah Whittington writes...

At a side event co-sponsored by Christian Aid last night, speakers discussed the role of the World Bank in climate finance and energy provision in developing countries.

With the World Bank pushing to govern a new fund set up by the UNFCCC, this event questioned how an institution with such a high level of fossil fuel investment could be trusted to manage climate change mitigation in developing countries.

In the last five years World Bank funding for fossil fuels has increased 40-fold in developing countries.  Siziwe Khanyile from groundWork, South Africa, spoke about the social protest in her country against the Medupi power plant -  funded by a World Bank loan in spring 2010. She made it clear that this investment will not alleviate poverty or increase access to electricity for poor communities.  Instead, it will supply electricity only to heavy industry, increase the cost of supply for the local population and contribute to a doubling of South Africa's power sector carbon emissions. She pointed out that Africa as a continent is on the frontline of climate change and that we need a global campaign to oppose any future projects which exacerbate the problem.

Christian Aid partner Srinivas Krishnaswamy from India then spoke powerfully about the need for the World Bank to redefine its role and move away from fossil fuel investment towards a focus on equitable energy access. With so many people in developing countries currently suffering from energy poverty, renewable de-centralised energy systems could help address poverty and climate change concerns. These could also be cheaper to deliver, especially in rural areas. He said that the World Bank could be very influential in the transition to a low carbon model:

"The role of the World Bank should lead the way in funding low carbon energy generation even if technologies are costlier than traditional options."

Finally we heard from Yoke Ling Chee from Third World Network , another Christian AId partner. She spoke about the role of the World Bank in delivering climate finance and the link to the negotiations here in Cancun. Many developing countries do not trust the World Bank to govern UN climate funds because of a lack of accountability.  Climate finance is crucial to securing an international agreement, and therefore she said that while we should continue to push for the World Bank to be more accountable, the focus should now be on building consensus for a new fund under the UNFCCC.

While the World Bank continues to invest so heavily in fossil fuels despite ever increasing consequences, it is difficult for anyone to trust it can deliver what poor countries really need in the face of climate change.

Campaigners at the march in Cancun city on Tueday 7 December