Tag Archives: COP29

COP29

COP29 delivers death sentence for millions amidst “stage managed” Global North takedown of trust, collaboration, and protocol.

The Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ)

For Immediate Release

COP29 delivers death sentence for millions amidst “stage managed” Global North takedown of trust, collaboration, and protocol

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN, 24 NOV 24 –  COP29 has been less of a COP and more of a carefully manipulated cop-out by Global North governments that have used the Baku climate talks to sideline the core principles of a party-driven process to finalise their decades-long Great Escape and to rip apart the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement, lighting fire to a just global response to the climate crisis.

For the past two weeks, the Baku stadium has become a place of unprecedented broken trust, departure from established precedent, empty promises, and political bullying where Global North governments– led by the United States, European Union and United Kingdom– have bullied their way out of moral and legal responsibility for addressing the climate crisis and paying their climate debt. This escapist agenda has been enabled by a UNFCCC and COP29 presidency that has repeatedly departed from established protocol on multiple occasions to pave the way for this agenda, including in the closing plenary where the decision on the New Collective Quantified Goal on Finance (NCQG) was gavelled through by the presidency, and celebrated by the Executive Secretary, without consensus by Parties and multiple governments objecting. 

When so much is on the line, COP29 has forced through a deal that condemns those across the Global South, withholding the finance, collaboration, and technology needed to prevent a total climate collapse. These Global North governments have made it clear that they have no intention of being partners in global climate action, as communities across the Global South and the world grapple with a deadly and devastating crisis that is wreaking havoc on billions of lives around the world. 

When so many lives are at stake, no deal is better than a bad deal, which is why DCJ adamantly rejects this deal, alongside multiple Global South governments that have also rejected the deal–including Cuba, India, Bolivia, and Nigeria. The outcomes of COP29–which include rules that will scale up risky and ineffective carbon markets on one hand, and massively underdelivering on the Global North’s climate debt on the other– are not even close to delivering the public climate finance and real solutions owed to the Global South by the Global North. We will not back down from demanding the climate justice, real solutions, and the public climate finance we need to achieve a just and equitable transition off fossil fuels. 

COP29 has failed to take into account our lived realities, and has weighed our lives and livelihoods as wanting and unnecessary, instead pushing our communities into further devastation by offering only false solutions like debt swaps, carbon markets, loans and green bonds.

The NCQG decision that was adopted by the presidency without any opportunity for parties to stop the decision:

  1. is too far from the needs of developing countries as calculated in numerous surveys to be in the trillions, offering only $300 billion with no guarantee of any public provision of funding that does not put Global South countries into deeper debt.
  2. excludes Loss and Damage in the goal, a glaring oversight.
  3. backs the US-led argument that the finance should come not from the governments responsible for the climate crisis, but from development banks and private investors, thereby, allowing developed countries to exit their obligations to provide finance.

DCJ, cannot and will not accept today’s outcome at Baku, which has failed the world, particularly communities in the Global South. The days of climate impunity and climate obstruction must end. Climate justice now!

Quotes by DCJ members

“The outcome of COP29 is an outrageous insult to the people of the Global South. The pennies that have been thrown our way not only fall short of the trillions we are owed, this paltry amount will be delivered in the form of private finance and loans that will deepen the debts of already impoverished countries. COP29 will always be remembered as the COP where Global North governments permanently exited from their climate finance obligations, with the United States leading the way. From killing the Kyoto Protocol in 2012 to now selling out the Global South to the private sector, the US has always been the biggest blocker of climate action. By protecting their own interests and sabotaging COP29, the US and the rest of the Global North have condemned the world to climate catastrophe.” Lidy Nacpil, Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development

“The finalisation of the COP29 outcome was through a process that was unfair as the decision was gavelled without hearing objections from the parties. Developed countries once again escaped their obligations to commit to the provision of significant public resources to developing countries. They agreed only to mobilise financial resources without a firm commitment on what quantum they will provide in climate finance. They were wrangling with developing countries, behaving as if they were in a fish market, haggling over what they can offer, without a clear finance commitment. They expect developing countries to show greater ambition on mitigation and adaptation without the commensurate ambition on finance. This is not just a joke but a serious insult to developing countries, as they pretend with slogans to keep the 1.5 degree C alive, abdicating their responsibilities under the Paris Agreement and risking lives of the poor and wrecking the planet. “ Meena Raman, Third World Network 

“The forced gavelling of a sham COP29 decision over the fierce opposition of developing countries is nothing short of an authoritarian insult to the principles of equity and justice enshrined in the climate process, convention, and the Paris Agreement. This decision, imposed without consensus, denies the Global South the climate finance needed for urgent climate action. Finance is not charity—it is reparations for the historical emissions and continued exploitation by developed nations.

The trillions we demand are essential to address the climate induced destruction. Yet, instead of honouring their obligations, wealthy nations have pushed a fraudulent outcome built on inadequate pledges, speculative private funds, and the unconscionable idea of making the Global South pay for a crisis it did not cause.

We the Global South categorically reject this illegitimate outcome. We will not accept the erasure of equity, nor will we allow the historical responsibility of polluters to be diluted under the guise of voluntary commitments and privatised finance. Our nations may have been sidelined in the COP halls, but we will carry this fight into every space, every movement, and every avenue for climate justice. This is not an end—it is the start of a stronger, unified resistance against climate colonialism and for the survival and dignity of our people.” Rachitaa Gupta, Global Coordinator, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

“It is infuriating to hear rich countries claim there is no money to repay the climate debt owed to the South whilst pouring billions into the genocide in Palestine. More than empty promises and expressions of solidarity, we need accountability and action to deliver both climate justice and justice for Palestinians.” Abeer Butmeh, PENGON / Friends of the Earth Palestine

“Without sufficient financial commitment from developed countries, we guarantee the disappearance of South American forests, the degradation of our key ecosystems to sustain the climate balance. In other words, we condemn the Paris Agreement to failure and the NDCs to non-compliance. COP29 leaves a void that will be very difficult to overcome at COP30 in Brazil.” Antonio Zambrano Allende, Movimiento Ciudadano frente al Cambio Climático – MOCICC/Perú

“The UK and other Global North countries have bullied, stalled, manipulated & now stage managed the outcome of  the UN Climate Summit COP29, to try to escape their responsibility for causing the climate crisis. Rich countries have ignored the combined call from climate justice groups and Global South countries to bulldoze through this unjust deal. $300 billion is inadequate—it’s nowhere near enough to cut emissions fast enough, adapt to the impacts of climate breakdown, or support Global South countries in growing cleanly. It’s not the public finance needed. The message now is clear: only by building our collective power as people can we deliver a just and equitable transition to a future where everyone can live with dignity, in harmony with the planet.” Asad Rehman, War on Want

“We came here at COP29 to serve an invoice to the global North for the long overdue climate debt they owe to the global South but what we got instead are false solutions. Not only are rich polluters refusing to pay up; they are also seeking to profit off of the sufferings of impacted communities by peddling loans, carbon markets, green bonds, debt swaps, and other market-based distractions that turn the obligatory character of the climate finance we demand around. What was dubbed to be a finance COP has been exposed to be a false-solutions COP, swarmed with fossil fuel lobbyists, subverted by rich polluters, rigged to fail. The fight for accountability, reparations, and climate justice continues as we exit COP29 and go back to our communities.” Ivan Enrile, Climate Justice Programme Lead, IBON International

“Once again, in Baku, the climate negotiations reflect the core of the capitalist and colonialist model that is at the root of the planetary crisis. Rich countries, which for centuries have violated the territories of the global South, and have caused serious losses and damages due to climate change, refuse to commit financing to face the crisis and impose false solutions that increase the vulnerability and dependence of our countries.” Eduardo Giesen, DCJ Regional Coordinator, Latin America and the Caribbean 

“At COP29, developed nations once again coerced developing countries into accepting a financial deal woefully inadequate to address the gravity of our global climate crisis. The deal fails to provide the critical support required for developing countries to transition swiftly from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy systems, or to prepare for the devastating impacts of the climate crisis, leaving them severely under-resourced. The outcome offers false hope to those already bearing the brunt of climate disasters and abandons vulnerable communities and nations, leaving them to face these immense challenges alone. We must persist in our fight, demanding a significant increase in financing and holding developed countries to account for delivering real, impactful actions.” Harjeet Singh, Global Engagement Director, Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative

“Blame Baku’s disastrous deal on US bullying with its “my way, or the highway” brand of climate diplomacy. US State Department officials demanded more mitigation from developing countries but refused to deliver any financing developing countries are requesting, all while expanding its own fossil fuels production to set a world record for oil output. US attempts to diminish their legal obligations to provide finance proved successful, leaving a shameful legacy of global climate injustice by the Biden Presidency. As champions of their own rules-based-order, what we saw was, “We make the rules, so follow our orders,” where the US flouts the rules when it suits them.”  But the world wouldn’t fall for it in Baku since the injustices imposed by climate change are so severe, with many, many countries vociferously opposing the gaveling through of the decision. Victor Menotti, US Coordinator, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

“The supposed ‘COP of climate finance’ has turned into the ‘COP of false solutions’. The same rich countries that have been pouring billions into the genocide in Gaza, shirked their historical responsibilities at COP29 with a terrible deal that destroys the notion of equity, provides only pennies to the Global South, and pushes private debt creating finance. This is an insult to developing countries and the climate debt that they are owed. Further, the one thing that COP29 did achieve is the operationalisation of fraudulent, failed, and harmful carbon markets, continuing to provide a get out of jail free card to Big Polluters whilst devastating communities and ecosystems around the world.” Lise Masson, Friends of the Earth International

“COP29 delivered not climate action, not climate debt, not climate justice, but a climate crisis on steroids. Ramping up carbon markets— which do not reduce emissions—and offering way too little public climate finance far too late means the legacy of COP29 will still be millions of lives that never needed to be lost. Global North governments like the United States, European Union, and United Kingdom will deploy their manipulative PR machines to celebrate themselves and blame others for kicking the can down the road, but these are the world’s largest historical polluters with the deepest fossil-fueled pockets, and they are the ones who are to blame. These governments will continue to spend trillions on the war machines that fuel genocide in Palestine and violence around the world, while coming to Baku offering nothing but bad deals that are worse than no deals. COP29 was a COP for and by Big Polluters–look no further than the nearly 1800 fossil fuel lobbyists that infiltrated these talks in Baku. We will not be silent while inaction continues to condemn people and the planet. We need real solutions, Real Zero, real climate finance–now.” Rachel Rose Jackson, Corporate Accountability

“Rich countries have completely failed to make a credible offer to pay up on climate finance: pull back the layers of proposals and it’s a recipe for spiralling debt and deepening destruction in the global south. Today’s outcome is a damning indictment of the rich world’s priorities. This must be a wake-up call. Rich governments including the UK must take their role in finding innovative forms of finance seriously. That means taking on the fossil fuel industry and the super-rich through permanent polluters’ taxes and wealth taxes, not leaving it to financial engineering in the City of London. Power and resources must be shifted from the corporations profiting at our collective expense to countries in the global south, suffering the worst impacts of a problem they have done the least to cause.” Izzie McIntosh, Climate Campaign Manager, Global Justice Now

“The COP29 finance package is a glaring example of misplaced priorities and broken promises. The entire process has been deeply flawed—excluding key voices, disregarding historical emissions and sidelining the principles of equity and justice. Once again, world leaders have failed to step up, choosing to ignore the urgent need for transformative funding. While $2.6 trillion continues to support harmful subsidies that drive pollution, deforestation and fossil fuel expansion, an opportunity to redirect these resources to the very communities that sustain our planet’s biodiversity and resilience has been squandered. These frontline communities, who hold the key to our planet’s survival, are left behind, while destructive industries like factory farming are allowed to flourish. Kelly Dent, Director of External Engagement & Media, World Animal Protection 

“Colonial thinking and a desire to continue business-as-usual from developed countries has dominated this COP, with vulnerable countries forced once again to fight for their lives and ultimately be ignored. Rich countries, who hold the responsibility for the climate crisis, have failed to deliver the finance needed to support communities facing the worst impacts. They should be ashamed of their greed, as it has once again led to a failed COP.” Dylan Hamilton, Alliance of Non-Governmental Radical Youth (ANGRY)

“The $300 billion climate finance offer at Baku is a scam — nowhere near what’s needed and not debt-free. Rich countries  are planning for fossil fuel phaseout failure and dodging responsibilities by forcing developing countries and the private sector to cover the bill. This creates a debt trap for those most vulnerable to the climate crisis. If rich countries put their hoarded trillions on the table instead of making excuses, we’d see real progress on fossil fuel phase-out. The US, EU, and UK show sickening indifference while millions pay with their lives. We will not give up.” Laurie van der Burg, Oil Change International Global Public Finance Manager

“COP29 got off to a very bad start by perpetuating the colonial model and human rights violations, and by opening the floodgates to geoengineering through the adoption of Article 6.4 on carbon markets. Unfortunately, it has ended as badly as it began; the lack of ambition and finance by developed countries and the promotion of false solutions to address climate change will be mostly suffered by those who have contributed the least to this crisis” Coraina de la Plaza, Global Coordinator, Hands Off Mother Earth Alliance

Quotes in Spanish:

“Una vez más, en Bakú, las negociaciones climáticas reflejan el fondo del modelo capitalista y colonialista que está en el origen de la crisis planetaria. Los países ricos, que por siglos han vulnerado los territorios del Sur global, y han provocado graves pérdidas y daños por el cambio climático, se niegan a comprometer el financiamiento para enfrentar la crisis e imponen falsas soluciones que aumentan la vulnerabilidad y dependencia de nuestros países. “ Eduardo Giesen, coordinador regional de DCJ para Latinoamérica y el Caribe 

Contact Us: 

Esthappen S, DCJ, +91-9820918910, [email protected], 

Julian, DCJ, +306941437285, [email protected]

X: @gcdcj 

COP29, Interventions

Intervention: TUNGO, WGC, ENGO (CAN & DCJ), YOUNGO to the Presidency on the Just Transition Work Program

Our constituencies have intensively exchanged with many of you for the past two weeks – We have heard your commitment to land this work in a good, ambitious place. We hope you find more time to engage constructively on this draft. We also would like to convey a message to the presidency: the JTWP needs consensus to be successful, so we would very much like to avoid a take it or leave it approach. 

Parties should consider what kind of message that failing to deliver a strong Just Transition decision at this COP will send. It would send a message to workers, people and communities across the world – who are relying on their governments to deliver a bold transformation to a better world – that their governments are, in fact, not willing to see action on this vital issue. 

Our priority remains paragraph 8

Our priority is ensuring that paragraph 8 remains in the text as it gives the political signal that we want concrete outcomes out of the Just Transition Work Programme. The compilation of a list of actions that governments should undertake together to advance just transition is a way to ensure progress towards such outcomes.  

Ensuring our inclusion in the development of the just transition guidance framework

We support paragraph 9 and would like to propose a pathway for the creation of a just transition guidance framework that ensures the inclusion of stakeholders, starting with the development of the terms of reference (TOR) (e.g. an ad-hoc expert committee as mentioned by LDCs, where observer constituencies are represented, drafts the TOR by SB62)

We want to retain references to social protection and to the informal sector and the care economy. We believe that the inclusion of such language in the final decision text would constitute a big win from this COP. We therefore urge Parties to retain paragraph 18.

Other elements that we like and that should remain/be added in the text

Addition of stakeholders to paragraph 14

Paragraph 14: We welcome the language of social dialogue, however this must also reflect the ILO dimension, meaning that it must include other stakeholders missing in the draft text. 

“14. Further highlights the importance of ensuring meaningful and effective social dialogue involving all relevant social partners, including with workers affected by a just transition, informal workers, and stakeholder participation with people in vulnerable situations, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, migrants and internally displaced …”

Retention of important language 

Paragraph 13: We appreciate the inclusive approach of paragraph 13 on human rights, Indigenous Peoples rights, labour rights, gender equality. 

We emphasise that all the rights mentioned in para 13 need to be kept in the text including right to development and right to a health and clean environment, both agreed internationally. 

The emphasis on international cooperation and consideration of the role of social protection, and the importance of the JTWP covering the informal sector and the care economy as essential to a just transition is anotherare  is another potential big wins. 

Paragraph 18: In addition, we welcome the inclusion of intergenerational equity as one crucial type of justice in paragraph 18. 

We want to retain references to social protection and to the informal sector and the care economy. We believe that the inclusion of such language in the final decision text would constitute a big win from this COP. We therefore urge Parties to retain paragraph 18.

We want to retain references to social protection and to the informal sector and the care economy. We believe that the inclusion of such language in the final decision text would constitute a big win from this COP. We therefore urge Parties to retain paragraph 18.

We strongly support those elements and we want to see them retained. 

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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]

COP29, Interventions, Press Releases

Money for war but not for climate action in Baku

MEDIA ADVISORY

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

As the genocide continues to unfold in Gaza, leaders around the world are arriving in Baku for the World Leaders’ Summit on day two of COP29 to discuss the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance. Widely dubbed as the “Finance COP”, climate justice movement from the Global South has raised a demand of $5 trillion per year, with “quality” finance provided by grants from public funds, not loans from private investors. 

Decades of inaction and broken promises by the rich countries, while shifting burden and blame on developing countries have not only compounded today’s climate impacts but have also deepened the extreme inequalities and injustices endured by communities, economies, and ecosystems, especially in the Global South. Yet Global North governments keep increasing their spending on weapons of war while ignoring climate impacts are intensifying insecurity and displacement, driving conflict. 

Join us as members of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice point to trillions of dollars being blown on military spending and fossil fuel subsidies, but is nowhere to be seen in Baku.

When: Tuesday, 12 November | 10:30am (Baku) 

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

Who:

Contact Us Julian, DCJ, +306941437285, [email protected]

COP29, Press Releases, Statements

Climate justice groups condemn COP29’s carbon markets decision setting the tone for corporate profits to prevail people’s interests


PRESS RELEASE

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN, 11 NOV 24 – As the global community gathers for the start of COP29, climate justice groups deplore the gaveling through of harmful carbon markets on the first day of the conference. This is not only an undemocratic process that threatens the credibility of this conference, it sets the tone for this COP to put Big Polluters’ profits above people’s rights.

The failure of voluntary carbon markets have shown that carbon markets, offsets, and removals do not work. Instead, they provide a smokescreen for big polluters to keep on emitting at the expense of people and nature. Time and again, these neocolonial schemes have resulted in land grabs, Indigenous Peoples rights and human rights violations, and the undermining of food sovereignty. 

Fully operationalizing carbon markets on the first day of COP29 sends an appalling message to the world for a COP that is set to see the delivery of urgently needed climate finance: Big Polluters and Global North governments may celebrate this as a success, and many will argue that carbon markets can provide the finance needed for a just energy transition, adaptation, and loss and damage in the global South. 

But carbon markets only fill the pockets of Big Polluters, they cannot – and will not – deliver the climate finance needed and owed to developing countries. The gavelling through of this decision on the first day of COP29 sets a dangerous precedent. The documents from the Supervisory Body must go through the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) for all parties to negotiate on. The rushing through of this decision is undemocratic and undermines the whole process.

Real, proven, community-centered and cost-effective solutions to justly address the climate crisis are increasingly being swept aside in favor of these industry-basked, risky, expensive, and harm-inducing false solutions. Climate justice begins with ending financing for and promotion of false solutions, instead, this COP must deliver the urgently needed climate finance owed to the global South. Bulldozing through Article 6.4 on the first day of the COP without any discussions and opportunity to negotiate by the Parties undermines the CMA, the COP and subverts the entire UNFCCC COP process. 

“Bulldozing through the Carbon Market methodology and text on the first day of the COP without any discussions and opportunity to negotiate by the Parties undermines the CMA, the COP and subverts the entire UNFCCC COP process. The arrival of the carbon market through the backdoor is a bad beginning for this COP, the global south, the Indigenous Peoples, forest and the front line communities. A global mobilization against the carbon markets is the need of the hour now.”

Souparna Lahiri, Senior Climate and Biodiversity Policy Advisor, Global Forest Coalition

“Carbon markets put Indigenous Peoples’ lives at risk. For over 20 years, these fraudulent mechanisms have allowed fossil fuel industries to continue with impunity. At this COP 29, the corporate capture has superseded any semblance of UN democracy with a move from the COP Presidency to go rogue and push through Article 6 carbon market methodology and removals texts without following party-driven procedure. IEN strongly opposes geoengineering technologies in the activities on removals text, which still has not produced a list of what removals technologies will even be included in A6.4 as an offset. We will continue to voice our opposition against Article 6 carbon markets.

Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network. 

“The gavelling through of carbon markets on the first day of COP29 is unacceptable and undermines the credibility of the whole process. Further, it is opening the floodgates for a global carbon market that will have devastating impacts on communities in the Global South, on Indigenous Peoples, and on small peasant farmers first and foremost. Carbon markets are not climate finance, and we cannot accept these neocolonial schemes to be propped as a success of COP29 in lieu of paying the climate debt owed to the Global South.” 

Lise Masson, Friends of the Earth International.

“Carbon markets are not climate finance. They are not the meaningful Real Zero action we desperately need while the world reaches record-breaking temperatures. They are a get-out-of-jail-free card for the world’s Big Polluters and Global North governments. And they condemn people and the planet. For this COP to claim victory, it must reject these false solutions that have been found to be essentially junk time and time again.  It just delivers the Global North’s climate debt and fair share of climate action. And it must defund genocide and finally kick Big Polluters out.” 

Rachel Rose Jackson, Director of Climate Research and Policy, Corporate Accountability.

“This is a bad process and a worse outcome. By trying to ram through loose standards for dangerous carbon crediting mechanisms behind closed doors, the Supervisory Board is handing Big Oil a gift and setting course for climate disaster. Under these sham guidelines, speculative so-called ‘carbon removal’ technologies and ‘carbon capture’ schemes led by oil and gas companies could be counted as carbon offsets – even if they increase climate pollution. Up to 79% of current ‘carbon capture’ operating capacity is just used to produce more fossil fuels, and these guidelines open the door for even more public money for polluting industries. Governments have already spent over USD 25 billion of public money on carbon capture and are planning to spend up to USD 240 billion more, but currently operating carbon capture projects have captured almost no emissions. This dodgy deal shows the Supervisory Board is more interested in looking like they are acting on climate change than actually acting on climate change – UN states should reject it immediately.” 

Myriam Douo, Oil Change International.

“The approval of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement represents a violation of human rights and the original rights of Indigenous peoples. Turning environmental protection and biodiversity into a commodity ignores the sacred value that these beings represent for Indigenous communities. They want to convince us that they can save the planet by selling our forests and the life that lives in them, but this is just another business tactic that only benefits big polluters. Instead of protecting, this policy puts our natural resources at risk and offends the principles of respect and harmony with nature. An approach that truly considers the genuine preservation and dignity of traditional peoples is urgently needed.The real solution for the climate is in the hands of the Indigenous peoples, who have been protecting the earth for millennia with their knowledge and their struggle.” Cacique Ninawa Huni Kui, Federation of Huni Kui People of the State of Acre Coordinator – Amazon, Brazil

“It is a very bad signal to open this finance COP by legitimizing carbon markets as a solution to climate change. They’re not – they will increase inequalities, infringe on human rights, and hinder real climate action. In adopting Article 6, the COP presidency is setting the tone for the remainder of the climate talks and confusing ‘climate finance’ with ‘markets’. COP29 is and should remain a finance COP, not a “markets” COP. Countries affected by climate change desperately need real money. The real win for this COP will be in securing 1 trillion a year in grants, not bonds, nor fake offset mechanisms that are a thinly veiled excuse for the world’s biggest polluters to pretend they’re paying their share. Dangerous distractions masquerading as emissions reductions will not suffice. We are here in Baku to demand a new, real climate finance goal, and we won’t accept schemes that only serve to pad the pockets of climate culprits.” 

Ilan Zugman, 350.org Latin America and Caribbean Director says:

“Carbon markets are not a solution to the climate crisis, and by pushing them through at this COP Indigenous People and those in the Global South are being further condemned by the Global North to suffer catastrophic consequences. At best, it is an insult to the legitimacy of the COP processes, and at worst it is a gift to the fossil fuel industry to continue to pollute unimpeded. Carbon markets are not climate finance, with this agreement in particular riddled with loopholes and false solutions that enable big polluters. This decision is putting the entire aim of the Paris Agreement at risk.” Dylan Hamilton, Alliance of Non-Governmental Radical Youth (ANGRY).

“The Africa Make Big Polluters Coalition urgently demands that COP29 unequivocally reject false solutions like carbon markets. These markets are not merely a deceptive substitute for genuine climate finance; they allow polluters to commodify our planet’s future while continuing to pollute our environment. As we gather to confront the climate crisis, we must remember: you can’t buy air from one part of the world to another, and that is precisely what carbon markets represent—another false solution threatening the very existence of our planet.This deception comes at an unbearable cost to thousands of frontline and grassroots communities who have lost their land, livelihoods, families, and lives due to these harmful carbon market projects. We must stand united and demand real, impactful solutions that prioritize the health of our planet and its people. Governments at COP29 must reject carbon markets and commit to meaningful climate action without delay. Big polluters must be held accountable for their undeniable contribution to this climate crisis—the time for action is now!”
Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director , Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa

“Apart from undermining established procedures, a big source of frustration for us is the fact that false ‘solutions’ like removals are still on the table. History tells us that these mechanisms distract from real and lasting emission cuts and have adverse impacts on the rights and livelihoods of communities worldwide. They drive land dispossession, undermine food sovereignty, erode democratic control over resources, privatise global commons, exploit labour, and intensify the most destructive elements of the capitalist system.

We have been very categorical: any mechanism premised on allowing polluters to continue business as usual, to justify fossil fuel use, or to persist in colonising and plundering the global South is not a solution.”

Jax Bongon, IBON International

“For more than two decades of operation, carbon markets have proven to be a completely useless mechanism for reducing emissions, a source of shady business that has only served large emitters to evade their responsibility and deepen the climate crisis by promoting projects that generate impacts and violate the rights of communities.”

Eduardo Giesen, Regional Coordinator DCJ Latin America and the Caribbean. 

“Today, States allowed this rogue move from the Supervisory Body to prevail in the quest to start COP29 with a “win.” But this is hardly a win for people or planet.  Approving this without discussion or debate on this approach, sets a dangerous precedent for the entire negotiation process. This is very concerning from a procedural standpoint: it bypasses States’ ability to even discuss , much less revise the standards before they go into effect. States’ oversight is all the more critical as the Supervisory Body’s efforts to get this done has resulted in risky rules that will lead to human rights violations and environmental harm.  While States won’t be able to undo this move, they can still partially correct the wrong by giving strong guidance to the Supervisory Body that ensures further rules are adopted in line with science, human rights, and international law.”
Erika Lennon, Senior Attorney, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)  

“As the last decades have shown, carbon markets are not only a false solution to the climate crisis but also perpetuate the extractive colonial model of development and human rights violations. The text on removals as it is now, opens the floodgates to very harmful activities like geoengineering which will only worsen the climate crisis and divert attention from real solutions. Today, COP29 has had a very bad start and sets an appalling precedent from a procedural point of view, but above all, it has taken yet another step on the road to climate disaster by backing false solutions and the interest of a few to the detriment of the planet and peoples.”
Coraina de la Plaza, Global Coordinator, Hands Off Mother Earth! (HOME) Alliance

“This is not a success for COP 29, this is a climate and development disaster. Carbon markets are pollution permits allowing wealthy nations and companies to emit CO2 at will, funding neocolonial projects that exclude people and do little for the climate.”

Alison Doig, Recourse

Contact Us

Julian, DCJ, +306941437285, [email protected]

COP29, Interventions, Press Releases

Uncertainty Clouds Urgent Breakthrough Needed in Baku

Media Advisory #COP29

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

It has been over a year since the apartheid regime of Israel, fully supported and funded by other colonial states, unleashed its latest genocidal attacks in Gaza. Against this backdrop, the governments are gathering in Baku for the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Conference Of Parties 29 (COP29). 

Originally dubbed the “Finance COP”, COP29 seems set to become a “False Solutions COP” as political turmoil and economic uncertainty unsettle government delegations driving desperately towards a new climate deal. At COP29 in Baku, the Global North governments are arriving without clear authority or even commitment to make deals due to recent election reversals and collapsed ruling coalitions, yet all  countries are mandated to agree on a new goal that delivers urgently needed climate finance to the Global South countries.  

Eager to get any deal done, the COP29’s Presidency is pushing a dangerous and undemocratic agreement on carbon markets that would present as “climate finance” and would provide the ‘get out of jail free card’ for polluters  to continue with their emissions further, pushing the planet on a path to catastrophe. Join us as members of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice preview the political dynamics driving climate diplomats to play with fire in a world already warming beyond scientists’ worst nightmares.

When: Monday, 11 November | 10:30am (Baku)

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

Who:

  • Meena Raman, Third World Network
  • Claire Miranda, Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development
  • Jax Bongon, IBON International
  • Asad Rehman, War on Want

Contact Us Julian, DCJ, +306941437285, [email protected]

COP29, Press Releases

COP29: Repression epidemic regarding climate activists and human rights defenders

November 11 2024, 1130 AZT / 0730 UTC+4

Baku, Azerbaijan – The world is in the throes of unprecedented repression regarding climate activists, human rights defenders, journalists, academics and others who express opposing views to their government, according to a new report, Climate Talks and the Chilling Effect: Repression on the Rise, released on the opening day of the latest round of UN climate negotiations, taking place in Azerbaijan. The problem is widespread, and three leading civil society networks – Climate Action Network, Publish What You Pay and Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice – assert this as an epidemic impeding crucial climate action and violating human rights laws across the world. Without these voices of civil society, the fight for climate justice cannot succeed, jeopardising the integrity of climate summits themselves. 

The report reveals how repression and barriers, like visa restrictions and hotel price gouging, have significantly worsened at the most recent UN climate negotiations from Katowice to Baku, as well as most recently in Kenya, Germany and the UK. Without urgent action from governments and the UN, COP30 in Brazil could fall victim too, the organisations warn.

Tasneem Essop, Executive Director, Climate Action Network, said: “Without a robust defence of human rights for all who challenge injustice – climate defenders, journalists, and civil society alike – the foundations of climate justice crumble, jeopardising the integrity of COP29 and all future climate summits. Repression doesn’t just silence individuals; it weakens our collective power to secure a sustainable, just future. From the peaceful protestors in Kenya and Azerbaijan to indigenous leaders in Latin America, those on the frontlines are risking everything for society and the planet. COP29 must be more than a summit of promises. Governments must stand up to end the persecution of climate defenders now. Because without them, we do not have climate action – we have empty words.”

Over 1,500 climate and human rights defenders have been murdered since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, and there appears to be no let up as the latest death toll stands at 2,100, with Latin America having the highest number of recorded killings worldwide. 

Surveillance, intimidation, draconian laws and police brutality are on the rise, while Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, has called on governments to “take seriously the hostile narratives that are fast spreading worldwide, including in historic democracies, to vilify and stigmatise people exercising their fundamental freedoms.”

Azerbaijan, the leading fossil fuel supplier to Israel, plays COP29 host against a backdrop of documented human rights violations by the country’s government led by Ilham Aliyev. In 2024, Azerbaijan has witnessed its most severe repression yet, with a sharp rise in political prisoners, targeting of academics, and the harshest media restrictions in its history as a member of the Council of Europe. 

In Germany, in April 2024, police cracked down on peaceful pro-Palestinian protestors, with numerous incidents of excessive force and arbitrary detentions reported during demonstrations across major cities like Berlin, while dozens of civil society representatives and delegates from Africa and Asia experienced trouble getting visas to attend the annual mid-year UN climate talks that take place in Bonn.

Asad Rehman, Executive Director of War on Want, member of Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ), said: “Death and destruction from climate violence and genocide in Gaza is being actively fuelled by the actions of rich countries such as the USA, UK and EU. They are willing to burn down the rules-based system, trash international law and no longer even pretend that the lives of black and brown people matter. When people of conscience stand up to protect our planet and expose the complicity of Western governments, its banks and corporations that are profiting from repression and fuelling climate catastrophe, they are being met with repression, authoritarianism, and criminalization. We stand at a crossroads with the very future of humanity at stake, facing a life or death struggle for humanity: on the one side the right of everyone to live with dignity or a world of walls and fences and sacrificed people.”

Several peaceful and unarmed protesters, many of whom were youth, were killed and injured in Kenya by police during #RejectFinanceBill2024 marches in June 2024. While in the UK, there are currently 41 political prisoners, among which are campaigners who received what is thought to be the longest ever sentences for non-violent protest.

Dr. Ketakandriana Rafitoson, Executive Director of Publish What You Pay, said: “Escalating repression of activists is smothering the voices that matter most in the urgent shift to a cleaner and fairer energy future. As fossil fuel dependency fades, this suppression is not only unjust—it is dangerously short-sighted. A just and equitable energy transition requires an open civic space and the active participation of those on the frontlines – like Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu in Azerbaijan, whose insights and resilience are crucial to achieving a people-centred agenda for the planet.”

To address the repression epidemic, Climate Action Network, Publish What You Pay and Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice demand the following:

  • All governments, in particular, Azerbaijan, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, the European Union – notably Germany, and the UK, must end their crackdown on civil society and journalists, and release all those arbitrarily detained and bring perpetrators to swift justice. 
  • States and the international community, including the United Nations through all its bodies, must take seriously the hostile narratives that are fast spreading worldwide, including in Western democracies, to vilify and stigmatise people exercising their fundamental freedoms.
  • Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change must recognise the legitimate work of people, groups and organisations that defend the environment and human rights, contributing to climate justice. 
  • All host countries of UNFCCC-related meetings and events, including Azerbaijan, Brazil, and Germany, respectively the hosts of COP29, COP30, and of the sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies, should guarantee open civic space before, during, and after the events and communicate around the steps taken to do so.
  • All Parties must combat reprisals and acts of intimidation against Indigenous Peoples, defenders or climate activists for their engagement with the UNFCCC by publicly denouncing all cases of reprisals, and establishing an accessible focal point for reprisals, with a mandate to collect information, to share it with the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and facilitate redress. 

Please find the detailed Press Note below:

Climate Talks and the Chilling Effect_ Repression on the RiseDownload

Climate Action Network (CAN) is the world’s largest climate network made up of more than 2000 civil society organisations in over 130 countries, together fighting the climate crisis. Since its inception in the 1980s, CAN has grown into a strong, member-driven network with a membership spanning all six continents in over 130 countries.

Publish What You Pay is a global network with over 1000 of civil society organisations in more than 50 countries. Founded in 2002, PWYP advocates   for an energy transition that leaves no one behind. PWYP listens to and elevates the voices and needs of people living in oil, gas, and mining dependent countries. 

Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) is a network of over 200 climate and human rights organisations working at international, regional and local level on issues of climate justice and just transition. Formed in 2012, DCJ campaigns on energy transformation and food, land, and water, as well as establishing itself as the convener of climate justice groups in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, where DCJ makes up one half of the Environmental NGO Constituency alongside Climate Action Network.

Contacts:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

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COP29, Interventions, SB60

INTERVENTION BY GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO DEMAND CLIMATE JUSTICE  AT AD HOC WORKING GROUP ON NEW COLLECTIVE QUANTIFIED GOAL

Undelivered Intervention

Thank you co-facilitator. My name is Claire Miranda, from the Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, a member of Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice.

I am here today representing the people of the Global South, to confront an outrage that can no longer be ignored. In these very rooms where we have been repeatedly talking about how to address the climate crisis, we still need to be reminded of one simple but profoundly troubling reason of why we are here – because of the actions and inactions of rich country governments who continue to be the biggest polluters, causing unprecedented harm to our planet. The climate catastrophe that engulfs our people and communities is a direct result of the greed, negligence, and outright deceit of the rich country governments. 

You are the biggest polluters, the architects of this planetary destruction. The heatwaves that left our lands scorched, the typhoons that shattered our homes, the fossil fuel extraction that poisoned our planet – these are your legacies. For decades, you have perfected the art of inaction, the dirty tactics to evade your obligations while our people suffer and our lands die.

In this very space, where you are supposed to agree on a quantum that reflects the growing climate needs of the Global South and urgently deliver your obligations, you shamelessly divert the discussion. Instead of addressing the crisis you’ve created, you point fingers at developing countries and expand the contributor base, and then have the gall to limit the recipients of climate finance. You continue deflecting attention from the fact that it is YOU who are responsible. You erode the core principles of equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities, principles enshrined in the Convention which the Global South has fought hard for. How you mobilize the adequate amount to meet your obligation is your problem and should not be the burden of the Global South.

You have the audacity to claim you’ve met the $100 billion goal promised back in 2009. This is a blatant lie. Funds provided in loans, repackaged development assistance, contributions to MDBs – these are not climate finance. You continue to portray yourselves as climate champions, boasting of your commitment to help the most vulnerable cope with climate impacts. Yet, behind your flowery words lies the harsh reality: it is the Global South that has fed your people, provided you with human resources, and transferred its wealth to you through forced climate loans. You hide behind these deceptive narratives and then leave us to drown in the consequences of your actions. This claim is not just misleading; it is an insult to the people of the Global South who endure the worst of climate change every single day. Your false assertions are nothing more than a cowardly attempt to mask your utter failure to deliver your obligations.

I call upon the leaders of our nations, the negotiators here from the Global South who will be in Baku, to stand resolute. We implore you to demand these rich country governments – who continue to extract our resources, oppress our people and actively enabling the acts of genocide, who owe your people a huge climate debt – fulfill their obligations without delay. We will not be placated by more false assurances. 

As we approach COP29 in Baku, we issue a resolute warning: the people of the Global South are rising. Another endless talkshop is unacceptable. We will be more determined to expose your lies, spotlight your dirty tactics to derail progress and dismantle those empty promises. We will all demand that you #PayUp, fulfill your obligations, and we will settle for nothing less than complete accountability. We will not rest until justice is served and our people receive what is rightfully theirs.

Thank you!

COP29, Interventions, SB60

INTERVENTION BY GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO DEMAND CLIMATE JUSTICE AT MEETING WITH UNFCCC EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

I thank my sister Mishy from Women and Gender Constituency for chairing this important session and Mr Executive Secretary for this space. I am Rachitaa Gupta from the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice. I voluntarily and readily disclose that I have no direct or financial ties to the fossil fuel industry or other polluting industries, and invite others to also disclose the same as they speak. 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 echo the demands of our comrades and sisters from the women and gender constituency who have talked about the ongoing genocide in Palestine and shows the true priorities of the developed countries. 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 also 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. There 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.

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. 

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.