Interventions

Intervention: Deputy Executive Secretary

Deputy Executive Secretary

I am Rachitaa Gupta from the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice. I voluntarily disclose that I have no ties to the fossil fuel industry or other emission intensive industries and no conflict of interest and invite others to also disclose the same as they speak. We want to highlight the new report that has just come out that shows there are nearly 1800 fossil fuel lobbyists at this COP and we know when they come here it is only to influence and prioritise their profit rather than people’s interests. We cannot ignore the contrast between shrinking of meaningful space for rightsholder constituencies on one hand, and the vastly increasing power and influence of the polluting interests like the fossil fuel lobbyists over this process on the other hand. For us, enhancing observer engagement requires ensuring that that engagement does not come at the cost of introducing conflicting interests that risk the integrity of the very UNFCCC objectives and process, and that displace the lived experience and expertise of rights holders. We call on your support to convene a public, formal way for observers to engage in dedicated, constructive, deep dialogue with parties on this topic, and to take all possible measures to safeguard against the undue influence of polluting interests. 

We are all gathered to be part of discussions and negotiations that have serious implications on our lives and communities in the global south. Yet we gather here year after year with no meaningful progress or solutions for our communities back at home who are at the frontline of this crisis yet least responsible for it.

Access to UNFCCC is a serious concern for us. We appreciate the new steps taken by the UNFCCC but they are not nearly enough. Food 

We reiterate all the points made by our comrades in the rights based constituencies. We all know that this is a crucial COP since it is called “finance COP”. We hope to see ambitious public finance commitments from the parties, especially the developed countries who have the historical responsibility. We condemn the priorities of the countries around the world, especially rich countries choosing to fund and fuel genocides, war, and conflict around the world rather than funding climate action and justice. These issues are deeply interlinked- there is no climate justice on occupied land, and these same actors are perpetuating both the climate crisis and the genocide and systemic violence happening around the world.

We are all gathered to be part of discussions and negotiations that have serious implications on our lives and communities in the global south. Yet we gather here year after year with no meaningful progress or solutions for our communities back at home who are at the frontline of this crisis yet least responsible for it. We insist on more accountability from the rich countries to deliver on the commitments that they make here year after year. As you know Data compiled by the UNFCCC Secretariat shows that developed countries have fallen far short of their formal pledges to reduce deadly greenhouse gas emissions, fulfilling only about one-quarter of the cuts urged by scientists. The pushing of article 6.4 in the opening plenary and the agenda is deeply problematic since it .  is also a strong attempt to bring in false solutions like carbon markets and speculative and untested technologies of geoengineering that are used as dangerous distractions from real emission cuts that need to happen urgently and immediately.

  1. We strongly echo the demands from our comrades in ENGO CAN, WGC, YOUNGO, TUNGO, and IPO. Access to the UNFCCC and global climate policy space is critical for civil society. Collectively we represent millions of people in the Global South who are at the frontline of this crisis and are increasingly being left behind within this process. We cannot ignore the contrast between shrinking of meaningful space for rightsholder constituencies on one hand, and the vastly increasing power and influence of the polluting interests like the fossil fuel lobbyists over this process on the other hand. For us, enhancing observer engagement requires ensuring that that engagement does not come at the cost of introducing conflicting interests that risk the integrity of the very UNFCCC objectives and process, and that displace the lived experience and expertise of rights holders. We call on your support to convene a public, formal way for observers to engage in dedicated, constructive, deep dialogue with parties on this topic, and to take all possible measures to safeguard against the undue influence of polluting interests. 
  2. And we call on you to strengthen the disclosure requirements instituted last year, in time for strengthened measures to come into place for COP29 registration. Specifically, we request that all observer participants be required to disclose who is funding their participation in talks before receiving theri registration. We strongly believe this lies within the remit of the secretariat, and is the type of bold action that is needed now. A type of boldness that has also been echoed by the UN Secretary General in his comments earlier this week. The world is looking to you to give a strong signal that this hall of climate action is not overrun with the very actors that have caused the climate crisis. 
COP29

 New report released at COP29 calls out Damage from Global North’s Refusal to do their Fair Share and Pay Up on Climate Finance, calls for system Change

DCJ PRESS RELEASE: BAKU, AZERBAIJAN, 15 NOV 24 – ‘The 2024 Civil Society Equity Review: Fair shares, finance, transformation’ report launched by Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice challenges the poisonous consequences of obfuscation, delay and inaction by Global-North governments on climate negotiations highlighting that ‘the key thread running through this history that these negotiations cannot ignore – as the negotiations grind on, so do the emissions.’ In its 10th year of publication, almost 350 organisations from across the world have endorsed the analyses, findings and recommendations of the report.  

The report presents a fair share assessment of NDC’s mitigation targets followed by a review of climate finance requirements and their sources. The authors propose that breaking the power of the fossil-fuel industry, while an absolutely necessary component of any possible climate strategy, is not enough and there is need for broader systemic changes if we are to stabilise the climate and address the polycrisis that big polluters have pushed our worlds into. 

“The Global North’s negotiators are refusing to engage with numbers of this scale, and by doing so are playing a very dangerous game. In this refusal, they imagine themselves realists, but they are in fact refusing to engage with numbers that have real empirical bases, and by so doing are endangering the UNFCCC regime and, indeed, the entire multilateral system, not to mention any remaining possibility of a stable climate and all that depends on it. True realism lies in the recognition that we actually have the money to save ourselves, and that the reallocation and redistribution of that money is now an existential necessity.” – 2024 Civil Society Equity Review. 

Contact Us

Julian, DCJ, +306941437285, [email protected]

COP29

New report released at COP29 calls out Damage from Global North’s Refusal to do their Fair Share and Pay Up on Climate Finance, calls for system Change

DCJ PRESS RELEASE:  

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN, 15 NOV 24 – ‘The 2024 Civil Society Equity Review: Fair shares, finance, transformation’ report launched by Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice challenges the poisonous consequences of obfuscation, delay and inaction by Global-North governments on climate negotiations highlighting that ‘the key thread running through this history that these negotiations cannot ignore – as the negotiations grind on, so do the emissions.’ In its 10th year of publication, almost 350 organisations from across the world have endorsed the analyses, findings and recommendations of the report.  

The report presents a fair share assessment of NDC’s mitigation targets followed by a review of climate finance requirements and their sources. The authors propose that breaking the power of the fossil-fuel industry, while an absolutely necessary component of any possible climate strategy, is not enough and there is need for broader systemic changes if we are to stabilise the climate and address the polycrisis that big polluters have pushed our worlds into. 

“The Global North’s negotiators are refusing to engage with numbers of this scale, and by doing so are playing a very dangerous game. In this refusal, they imagine themselves realists, but they are in fact refusing to engage with numbers that have real empirical bases, and by so doing are endangering the UNFCCC regime and, indeed, the entire multilateral system, not to mention any remaining possibility of a stable climate and all that depends on it. True realism lies in the recognition that we actually have the money to save ourselves, and that the reallocation and redistribution of that money is now an existential necessity.” – 2024 Civil Society Equity Review. 

COP29

What Global North Needs to do for a Climate Finance Breakthrough at Baku

The Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) PRESS RELEASE:  

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN, 15 NOV 24 – As we get closer to wrapping up the first week at COP29, governments from 200 countries are gathered to forge new agreements for climate finance as well as to advance on last year’s decision to transition away from fossil fuels for a just and equitable solution aimed at limiting warming to 1.5C. Yet, the Global North countries are once again sewing distrust during climate talks as civil society groups from the region are calling them to account for reneging on their legal responsibilities in the UNFCCC. 

With President Biden’s term entering the final days, there are several policy choices that can be made to leave a legacy of making the United States the first and fastest to phase out fossil fuels. The rich countries, led by the US, can also deliver an ambitious New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) matching the demands from the Global South countries for the urgent delivery of finance and technology.

“The White House has just three days left to pressure Ex-Im to agree to end fossil fuel support from export credit agencies at the OECD negotiations starting on Monday. This would shift $40 billion a year of funding from fossil fuel projects to renewables. It would be a Trump-proof plan to shift this money, this funding of fossil fuels. So it would really solidify the climate legacy of the Biden administration. So really, really pressuring the White House to take this action before it’s too late. And the second thing I would say is the most urgent before the Biden administration leaves office is rejecting all pending liquefied natural gas and fossil fuel permits.”

Jamie Minden, Zero Hour

“The global community would love the US to continue to participate in global affairs. We also have to recognize that this is not the 1950s or 1960s anymore. We’re in a different world where there are multiple polarities. There’s the rise of BRICS, the BRICS government, BRICS group. And so there’s a lot more flexibility that is approachable for many developing countries. And so we’re not as panicked as 10, 15 years ago. Of course they’re not fully fledged and ready to go, but it does give us the possibility for finding new sources of funds for our development issues and for pushing for greater reform of the World Bank, IMF and the World Trade System. And these are all part of the climate system. The IPCC, which is the authoritative scientific body for this convention, for the first time in its 30 years said that colonialism is a driver. of climate change and so we want to get rid of colonialism and imperialism in the global monetary and climate system. We see that occurring also in this space so we will deal with whatever we have to deal with because that’s how the world flows.”

Mariama Williams, Global Afro-Descendant Climate Justice Collaborative

“The North needs to do its fair share for the United States. That means four times the current Biden pledge of 50 percent to be 200 percent. That means 80 percent domestic emissions, 120 percent of international support, finance and technology. We can’t take up so much historical emission space in the atmosphere with our pollution that we have to help other countries mitigate. We’ve taken their space. We have to pay for it. You see these five trillion dollars pay up lanyards going around. That’s just a down payment on the climate debt as it’s called. So yeah, that’s how we get a breakthrough here in Baku.”

Victor Menotti, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ)

Julian, DCJ, +306941437285, [email protected]

COP29

Activists Demand US$5 Trillion in Real Climate Finance

Chanting for Change at COP29: 

WHAT: Civil society organizations at COP29 will unite in a powerful, synchronized protest demanding that the Global North finally pay up its climate debt to the Global South with $5 trillion in real climate finance. Activists are calling for public finance that is predictable, non-debt-creating, new and additional. Two groups, occupying two different locations, will chant in perfect synchrony as speakers address COP29 visitors, making their voices heard. Their rhythm and resolve will echo through the Blue Zone, carrying a message of climate justice for all.

WHEN: Friday, November 15, 2024, 10:30am Baku time (UTC+4)

WHERE: Action Location 2 and Action Location 4, Zone B, COP29 Blue Zone

WHO: The following civil society groups at COP29 will be taking part:

  1. Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice – action location 4
  2. Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development – action location 4
  3. Organizations from Trade Union Non-Governmental Organizations (TUNGO) – action location 4
  4. Climate Action Network International – action location 2
  5. Organizations from the Women and Gender Constituency – action location 2
  6. Organizations from Indigenous Peoples Organizations (IPO) – action location 2

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Isabel Rodrigo | Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development | +63 926 734 5712 | [email protected]

Julian Reingold | Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice | +306941437285 | [email protected]

Attila Kulcsár | Climate Action Network International | +44 7472 124872 | [email protected]

Uncategorized

Funding climate action in the food and agriculture sector through just transitions

DCJ PRESS RELEASE:  

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN, 14 NOV 24 – As COP29 heads into the fourth day, climate finance for ambitious climate action in the food and agriculture sector needs to be an urgent demand within the global climate policy space. Agriculture is both a significant contributor to climate change, responsible for 21-37% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and a sector highly vulnerable to its impacts.

About 15% of global fossil fuel resources are destined to agriculture and food transport & storage. Agriculture lacks robust emissions reduction targets, with increasing dependence on petrochemical-based pesticides and fertilisers. A quick and just transition in agriculture is urgently needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, given that 80% of the world’s poorest live in rural areas and rely on this sector for their livelihoods. Needless to say that women represent 43% of the agricultural workforce. 

Empowering small food producers in agriculture enhances sustainability, resilience, and food security, yet climate finance for small-scale farmers remains limited, with only 0.8% allocated to these groups in 2023. Food systems should focus on producing adequate, nutritious, and accessible food for all, with an emphasis on meeting communities’ staple needs for domestic consumption.

“A just transition is not only switching from coal to renewable energy. A just transition recognizes the self-determination of farmers, communities, small producers and asking them what they want to grow.”

Wanun Permpibul, Climate Watch Thailand

“No climate action will be successful if we do not include a radical transformation of agri-food systems, and to achieve that we need women. For that we need adequate financing and to highlight their role in the agri-food system from seed to plate.”

Andrea Echeverri, Global Forest Coalition 

“Just transitions cannot be reduced to fossil fuels and workers, it has to be about the whole of society’s transformation that undoes centuries of historical inequality and addresses not only the climate crisis but also the biodiversity crisis as well. We need an expansive vision of transformation that delivers a just and ecological equitable transition.”

Leon Sealy-Hoggins, War on Want

“A just transition in the energy sector will not be possible without a just transition away from the industrial agriculture model that accounts for 15% of all fossil fuel annually. A just transition away from industrial agriculture towards an equitable, humane and sustainable food system is urgently needed to meet the climate, biodiversity and sustainable development targets.”

Elodie Guillon, World Animal Protection 

‘The stakes couldn’t be higher. The food and agriculture sector is the 2nd largest emitting sector after energy whilst at the same time already bearing the brunt of climate changes which billion of poor rely on. Without urgent action and a just transition away from the industrial animal agriculture system towards equitable, humane and sustainable food system the climate, biodiversity and the SDG goals will remain out of reach.’

Interventions, Uncategorized

Cross Constituency Intervention: 3rd CG Meeting of the JTWP

Thank you Chair for the Floor, we the TUNGO constituency would like to deliver this statement on behalf of ourselves, Women and Gender, Climate Action Network and Demand Climate Justice and YOUNGO. 

As the allied civil society constituencies, we have consistently advocated that the Just Transition Work Programme be a space for transformative action for workers in formal and informal economy, people and the planet. We are afraid that the current draft text pulls us into a deadlock with the only outcome being another dialogue. We would like to reiterate that the JTWP must move beyond only dialogues and must deliver just transition on the ground and for that we need the WP to focus on concrete actionable outcomes in achieving the elements (a) to (g) outlined in paragraph 2 of decision 3/CMA.5

As allied constituencies, we would like to ask Parties to consider an  alternative to paragraph 6 of the draft text:

“Invites Parties, observers, and other non-Party stakeholders to submit via the submission portal views on concrete outcomes to achieving the elements (a) to (g) listed in paragraph 2 of decision 3/CMA.5 by February and requests the co-chairs to draft a compilation of the submissions to be used for the third and fourth dialogue.”

The purpose of this alternative is to focus all our work in 2025 on concrete outcomes, instead of sectoral dialogues. 

All constituencies have also other inputs on the text and would welcome the possibility to come back on those later. At this stage we consider it crucial to ensure the text offers at least one avenue to making a difference for people on the ground as soon as possible. 

The time is now.

Interventions

Interventions: Opening plenary

My name is Erica Njuguna from Alliance of Non-Governmental Radical Youth speaking on behalf of ENGO-DCJ. I voluntarily disclose that I have no direct ties to the fossil fuel industry (or other emissions intensive industries) and no conflicts of interest. 


I sit here before you because my country is being hit by severe droughts, and we demand reparations. I was only 7 years old when the largest historical polluter parachuted into Copenhagen with a big figure that awed everyone…$100 billion sounded like a lot then. 

But, by all HONEST accounts, it has NOT been delivered, and NOW the needs have ballooned due to the Global North’s failing to go first and fastest in phasing out fossil fuels, while refusing to provide Global South countries sufficient support through finance and technology.

NCQG must make up not only for lost time but also the loss and damage resulting from delay.

A survey of needs-based analyses informs DCJ’s demand for the Global North to PAY UP $5 trillion in public funding for climate debt AND as a quantum. 

It is not lack of finance but misplaced priorities. We know the money is there! We all see the trillions being spent on weapons of war and fossil fuel subsidies, currently converging as forces of genocide in Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan, Congo. 

Yet we will NOT be fooled by Article 6’s carbon markets being presented as climate finance that will further harm communities in the Global South, violate the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples’, and fail to deliver urgent emissions cuts.

Carbon markets under Article 6 are illegitimate, and A6 will flood the system with pollution permits undermining the Paris Agreement. Environmental and human rights defenders are being killed while your carbon markets that jeopardize Indigenous Peoples’ rights, the human rights of local communities, and the territorial integrity of Mother Earth are pushed through.

All of these dynamics make the modalities of the UAE Dialogue imperative to focus on finance and not be diluted to cover everything and thus nothing. We need accountability for finance if we want more mitigation, adaptation and responsibility for loss and damage. Defund genocide, fund climate justice NOW!

COP29

Undemocratic gavelling through of carbon markets as COP29 opens

PRESS RELEASE: 

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN, 13 NOV 24 – The opening day of COP29 saw the undemocratic gavelling through of carbon markets, once again enshrining the interests of Big Polluters over people. Carbon markets are not climate finance; they are a gift to the fossil fuel industry to continue polluting while leaving the door wide open for rampant proliferation of dangerous and unscientific false solutions such as geoengineering, ‘offsetting’ and carbon capture. 

Rich countries and big polluting industries continue to funnel money in to wars, genocide and “fixes” that will allow them to keep their extractive economic systems going without delivering on the urgent climate finance for the Global South countries. These schemes only perpetuate neocolonial patterns of extractivism, with Global South and Indigenous communities first and foremost impacted.  

Members of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice put the spotlight on the polluters’ attempt to derail climate action. 

“Full operationalisation of carbon markets was approved on the first day of COP29, sending a disappointing message to the world, with lack of democratic process enabling parties to discuss. Indigenous Peoples and communities in the South will not be the ones celebrating this event – it will be the Big Polluters and rich countries, the same ones who spend billions in genocide and false solutions instead of the climate finance needed for a Just Transition and Loss and Damage in the Global South. Carbon markets are not climate finance – this is a lie, this is a false solution. This will not support the real solutions from communities in the South, the real proven cost effective community centred solutions are being increasingly swept aside in favour of these business driven schemes. 

COP16 in Cali took place a few weeks ago – we have pushed for the confluence of biodiversity and climate agendas for years, but the way it is now happening is only in favour of big polluters. We are seeing the same false solutions, at the profit of industries and at the expense of communities. Only the last 2 days of COP16 were given to the discussions of finance – the GN continues to evade responsibility for their climate debt.”

Tatiana Rodríguez Maldonado,  CENSAT Agua Viva / Friends of the Earth Colombia

“We work for the inherent and collective rights of IP and the dignity of IP throughout the world. The unprecedented bypass of procedure in this COP29 demonstrates a desperate attempt to rush more carbon markets, offsets, removals that have resulted in IP rights violation, land grabs, and human impacts. Climate change cannot be changed from a system that facilitates growth and the profit of corporations. These false solutions do not cut carbon emissions at source, they will continue to profit the world’s largest polluters whilst continuing to sidetrack the much needed emission reductions. We don’t want to see this as the continuation of colonisation towards a termination agenda of IP rights. Mother Earth is not a commodity, she is not for sale.”

Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network

“We must call out these FS wherever they show up. One of them is CCS, there is no evidence that CCS can work, yet the rush for financing these technologies continues. These inequitable solutions like CCS and geoengineering exclude the leadership of young people especially those on the frontlines of climate change, facing the worst impacts. We must not allow genuine measures like climate finance to be co-opted by these schemes. There will not be a magical technological solution that means we can continue business as usual.”

Dylan Hamilton, Alliance of Non-Governmental Radical Youth

“I often get asked – how do you spot false solutions? There are so many benchmarks. Here is one simple example: for the last decades carbon markets have been pushed and rolled out, has there been any real and lasting emission reductions? No? Then why do we gavel them through on the first day of COP? There is a very simple way to spot false solutions, and that is to trace any scheme or proposal to its source. Spoiler alert, if those that are pushing these schemes are the same actors that have been fueling climate change whilst knowing for half a century of the harm it would cause, then these so-called solutions are not solutions. These BigPolluters are only about one thing – protecting their own profit. This is why they think nothing of continuing to fuel a genocide, or violating Indigenous Peoples rights. 

Yet it doesn’t have to be this way – there are real, proven, cost effective solutions that respect communities rights and the world we live in. We must look beyond these halls, reject these dangerous distractions, and finally and urgently embrace real solutions.”

Rachel Rose Jackson, Corporate Accountability, member of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

Contact Us

Julian, DCJ, +306941437285, [email protected]

COP29, Interventions, Press Releases

False Solutions and deceptive victories on the rise: Carbon markets are not climate finance!

MEDIA ADVISORY: Nov 13th, 2024

COP29 Press Conference – The Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) 

The opening day of COP29 saw the undemocratic gavelling through of carbon markets, once again enshrining the interests of Big Polluters over people. Carbon markets are not climate finance; they are a gift to the fossil fuel industry to continue polluting while leaving the door wide open for rampant proliferation of dangerous and unscientific false solutions such as geoengineering, ‘offsetting’ and carbon capture. 

Rich countries and big polluting industries continue to funnel money in to wars, genocide and “fixes” that will allow them to keep their extractive economic systems going without delivering on the urgent climate finance for the Global South countries. These schemes only perpetuate neocolonial patterns of extractivism, with Global South and Indigenous communities first and foremost impacted.  

Join us as members of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice spotlight the polluters’ attempt to derail climate action. 

When: Wednesday 13th November | 12:30pm-1:00pm (Baku)

Where: Press Conference – Natavan, Area D / WATCH LIVE

Who:

  • Tatiana Rodríguez Maldonado,  CENSAT Agua Viva / Friends of the Earth Colombia
  • Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environment Network
  • Dylan Hamilton, Alliance of Non-Governmental Radical Youth
  • Rachel Rose Jackson, Corporate Accountability

Contact Us

Julian, DCJ, +306941437285, [email protected]