Tag Archives: UNFCCC

Press Releases, SB60, Statements

Rough Road to COP29: Rich Countries Pushing Global South Off the Tracks

13 June, 2023

Bonn, Germany

2023 was the hottest year on record with global temperatures close to 1.5 degrees. As the 60th Subsidiary Bodies meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: SBSTA and SBI come to a close, the global community faces stark realities about the ongoing climate crisis and the persistent inaction of developed countries. Recent UNFCCC reports reveal that rich nations, historically responsible for the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions, have only met a quarter of the emission cuts urged by scientists. These same countries are pushing developing nations for ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) while putting on a concerted effort to not commit or deliver on their own climate finance obligations urgently needed by the developing countries.

Adding to the injustice, rich countries continue to advocate for false solutions like nature-based solutions, geoengineering, carbon capture and storage, and carbon markets. These tactics allow them and their corporations to evade genuine emission reductions and delay the phase-out of fossil fuels, perpetuating the exploitation of the Global South communities at the frontline of this crisis. Rich countries need to step up and pay up for their responsibility by delivering on an ambitious New Common Quantified Goal that ensures new, additional, predictable and non-debt creating grant based public finance that goes towards real solutions and not towards dangerous distractions. The Global South is owed reparations in trillions and not billions and we need them to go towards solutions developed by peoples who are at the frontlines and suffer the disproportionate impacts of the climate crisis.

As we head towards COP29, it is imperative to hold these nations accountable and demand real, equitable climate action.

Quotes and Reactions from DCJ Members

Meena Raman, Third World Network

“If the developed world is serious about ambition in mitigation, they must in their forthcoming communication of their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) indicate that they will phase out from the use of fossil fuels urgently and will provide the scale of finance needed for developing countries to enable their just and equitable energy transition. The rich world must also indicate the financial resources they will provide for the new collective quantified goal on finance which has to be agreed to in Baku by the end of this year, to enable developing countries to address their mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage needs. Thus far, developed countries have refused to indicate any quantum of finance. They have money for bombs and war but have no money for paying up their climate debt. They must Step Up, Pay Up and meet their obligations under the Paris Agreement. They have the money but not the political will and this must change, if we are serious about enabling a liveable planet for all. “

Mariana Pinzón, CENSAT Agua Viva/Friends of the Earth Colombia

“One more round of climate negotiations ends and, once again, profound decisions are postponed for a new cycle. The discussions do not respond to the urgency of a crisis that is growing exponentially, but to the rhythm of large fossil fuel corporations, linked in turn to the world financial system, and to the wealth of the countries of the Global North. Those most affected, the communities of the Global South, are not heard. The recognition of an ecological debt owed by the Global North to the Global South does not appear in the discussions, let alone the obligation to reduce their GHG emissions to real zero not “net” zero. Neo-extractivist and debt-linked finance promise to maintain the status quo. Meanwhile, more people are being displaced by the climate crisis as right-wing governments gain space and promise to put up their walls.”

ASSEM Ekue, Les Amis de la Terre-Togo

“The false climate solutions we’re hearing about at the Bonn climate talks, such as carbon offsetting, carbon trading schemes and geo-engineering, are nothing more than technological or commercial schemes promoted by fossil fuel companies and their political allies. Their consequences include deforestation, land grabbing and violations of the rights of local communities in Africa. They are undoubtedly a danger to communities and ecosystems.”

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

“Once again in Bonn, climate negotiations continue to move away from the systemic change that requires solving the climate crisis with justice, collaboration, peace and care for nature. On the contrary, the logic of arrogance, war, commodification and corporate power, expressed in north-south relations and the imposition of false solutions within the framework of negotiations, continue to prevail.

For organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean, it is a new frustration that reinforces our effort to focus on producing systemic change from our own territories and communities.”

Dr Tamra Gilbertson, Indigenous Environmental Network

“Negotiators at the SBSTA 60 continued geopolitical colonial practices that uphold power regimes in the global North putting Indigenous Peoples, women and local communities’ lives at risk. With the UN claiming lack of funds, close to a third of the budget is set aside to build and continue carbon markets in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and to continue the clean development mechanism running in a limbo status. The UNFCCC processes undermine efforts to stop the serious threat of climate change and its underpinning processes, which will certainly be apparent in Baku in November. We do not have time to continue down the path of colonial-development fossil fuel power regimes heightened by the UN; it is time to end this violence.”

Asad Rehman, Executive Director, War on Want:

“Transition is now inevitable, the question is what kind of transition? The answer from rich countries in Bonn is that the goal is an unjust and inequitable transition condemning the majority of the world to increased climate violence, keeping them trapped in unequal societies. Rich countries need to stop financing bombs and bullets and instead invest in the life-saving systems needed by those on the frontlines.

Global North countries appear determined to bully the Global South while billions around the world desperately need concrete international action, including sufficient additional non-debt creating finance and technology transfers. This must be enabled by securing trade justice, implementing a fairer global taxation system, and redirecting damaging subsidies.”

Souparna Lahiri, Global Forest Coalition

“With 6 years to go for 2030 and what looks like a pretty ambitious but scientifically deduced benchmark of 1.5, the UNFCCC has lost the plot. We are facing a climate chaos and not a climate crisis anymore! Where the markets dictate, the dirty polluters preach and the rich west wants to come out clean of its historical responsibility of ravaging our planet,  our mother earth. We have had enough of these false promises and false solutions. It’s time to reclaim our land, our forests, and justice for Indigenous Peoples, women and local communities who are victims of colonialism, capitalism and climate colonialism. That’s our pathway to climate justice, real solutions and real zero.”

Sara Shaw, Friends of the Earth International 

“Developing countries need trillions in new public finance for adaptation, loss and damage and for a just transition away from fossil fuels. But developed countries are not even offering crumbs from the table and are blocking all progress. They want developing countries to accept loans which will further fuel debt, and are pushing already discredited carbon market finance schemes which causes grave harm in the Global South. This is a disaster.”

Rachel Rose Jackson, Corporate Accountability

“The Bonn climate talks produced wanting and watered down outcomes totally out of touch with reality.  Millions of lives are already being lost and impacted as a result of the climate crisis, yet urgency and fairness is totally lacking in this process. What is not lacking is the chokehold the fossil fuel industry and other Big Polluters have over this process, and there is no shortage of bullying by Global North governments evading their fair share. Until we end the ability of Big Polluters to write the rules of climate action, climate talks will continue to condemn rather than save lives.”

Rachitaa Gupta, Global Coordinator, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

“We saw deepening distrust at the climate talks in Bonn as rich countries continued to block progress and refused to step up and own up to their historical responsibilities for the ongoing climate crisis. We call out the misplaced priorities of the rich countries as they mobilise more money for the ongoing genocide in Palestine than for climate action.These same actors are perpetuating both the climate crisis and the systemic violence happening around the world.

As the Global South continues to reels from the climate crisis induced devastation, it is time for rich countries to reckon with their history and pay up the climate debt owed to the Global South. We need reparations in trillions not billions and we need them now to go towards real solutions – those developed by peoples who are at the frontlines and suffer the disproportionate impacts of the climate crisis”

Dr Leon Sealey-Huggins, War on Want on behalf of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice Just Transition Working Group

“We leave Bonn with little concrete progress on the Just Transition Work Programme. Yet we need rapid, just and equitable transitions essential to transforming our economies and societies in the face of climate breakdown and rampant global inequalities. Rich countries’ shenanigans included refusing to honour the original decision which stipulated that ‘international cooperation’ would enable just transitions (3/CMA.5). They would prefer the JTWP to be a talking shop, and refuse to support practical measures such as finance or technology transfer. We will continue to build grassroots power in our communities to fight for real change, and push for more tangible outcomes at COP29.”

Laurie van der Burg, Oil Change International:

“While lives are being lost in unbearable heat waves in Sudan, last year’s breakthrough agreement to transition away from fossil fuels was barely mentioned in these negotiations. The rich countries most responsible for this crisis must pay up for a fair fossil fuel phase-out and climate damages, without worsening unjust debts. We know they have more than enough money. It’s just going to the wrong things. 

“G7 leaders gathering in Italy today must face their responsibility. Instead of siding with fossil fuel interests, they need to deliver a fair fossil fuel phase-out, end fossil fuel handouts, and put a strong climate finance offer on the table. This is essential to build a fair and renewable future for all.”

Victor Menotti, Interim US Coordinator, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

“DCJ sees a ROUGH road to Baku given the little progress and deepening distrust here in Bonn. BURYING data from Annex 1 reports showing that the richest nations cut only one-fifth of the emissions scientists urged does NOT reverse the deteriorating spirit of cooperation. Nor does publicly declaring success while actually delivering only $51B of the $100B promised, as their reports reveal. Biennial Transparency reports (BTRs) BEFORE Baku – as well as coming clean on why such poor performance – are paramount.

We DO see a HOPEFUL way ahead, but only if rich countries step up to their responsibilities by drafting NDCs that are EQUITABLY aligned with 1.5C. That means the biggest historical polluters must not do only the global AVERAGE but indeed much more…For example, by making PERMANENT the pause on new LNG export permits to end the world’s largest expansion of fossil fuels. Ending LNG‘s expansion would convince other countries that aligning with 1.5C is truly the North Star of policymaking for the biggest historical polluters.”

Harjeet Singh, Global Engagement Director for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative

“Climate finance at international talks has morphed into a battleground, a glaring testament to years of neglect and deception by developed nations. These countries have not only skirted their historical responsibilities but have also consistently deployed delay tactics, shifting burdens onto the shoulders of developing countries.

“We are on the brink of a catastrophic failure of climate talks, harming those least responsible for the crisis. It is time for wealthy nations to confront their obligations head-on, to integrate substantial climate finance commitments into their national budgets, and to impose punitive taxes on fossil fuel corporations and the super-rich — those who have profited most from the exploitation of our planet. 

“As we witness devastating impacts affecting people and nature, our patience has run thin. We need action to raise trillions of dollars, not excuses, to finance the urgent climate solutions needed to safeguard our future and restore justice to the communities bearing the brunt of climate change.”

Teresa Anderson, Global lead on climate justice, ActionAid International: 

“Across the board, negotiation tracks nearly ran off the rails with rich countries blocking the finance needed to make climate action happen. COP29 negotiations in Baku on the new climate finance goal will be a fork in the road for Planet Earth. Developing countries have been carrying the costs of the climate crisis, and their patience is now stretched beyond bearing. Right now, it’s the people who have done almost nothing to cause the climate crisis who are paying for it with their lost livelihoods, their hunger, their disappearing islands, and their lives.

“There’s no getting around the fact that if we want enough climate action to ensure a safe future for everyone, we’re going to have to find a way of covering the costs. The climate bill will be in multiple trillions of dollars, but the good news is that tax justice can be a game-changer for climate action. New ActionAid research shows that developed countries can raise USD 2 trillion for climate action by raising their tax-to-GDP ratios by four percentage points, with a range of progressive tax measures that address tax avoidance, and target the wealthiest corporations and individuals.”

Quotes in other languages

[Portuguese]

Dr Tamra Gilbertson, Indigenous Environmental Network

“Os negociadores no SBSTA 60 continuaram as práticas coloniais geopolíticas que sustentam regimes de poder no Norte global, colocando povos indígenas, mulheres e vidas de comunidades locais em risco. Com a ONU alegando falta de fundos, quase um terço do orçamento é reservado para construir e continuar os mercados de carbono no Artigo 6 do Acordo de Paris e para continuar o mecanismo de desenvolvimento limpo em execução em um status de limbo. Os processos da UNFCCC prejudicam os esforços para deter a séria ameaça das mudanças climáticas e seus processos de sustentação, que certamente serão aparentes em Baku em novembro. Não temos tempo para continuar no caminho dos regimes colonial de poder do combustíveis fósseis pela ONU; é hora de acabar com essa violência.”

[Español]

Dr Tamra Gilbertson, Indigenous Environmental Network

“Los negociadores del SBSTA 60 continuaron con las prácticas coloniales geopolíticas que sostienen los regímenes de poder en el Norte global, poniendo en riesgo la vida de los pueblos indígenas, las mujeres y las comunidades locales. Mientras la ONU alega falta de fondos, cerca de un tercio del presupuesto se reserva para construir y mantener los mercados de carbono en el Artículo 6 del Acuerdo de París y para continuar con el mecanismo de desarrollo limpio funcionando en un estado de limbo. Los procesos de la CMNUCC socavan los esfuerzos para detener la grave amenaza del cambio climático y sus procesos subyacentes, lo que sin duda será evidente en Bakú en noviembre. No tenemos tiempo para continuar por el camino de los regímenes de desarrollo colonial basados ​​en combustibles fósiles y de acentuados por la ONU; es hora de poner fin a esta violencia.”

Mariana Pinzón, CENSAT Agua Viva/Friends of the Earth Colombia

“Termina una ronda más de negociaciones sobre el clima y, una vez más, las decisiones profundas se posponen para un nuevo ciclo. Las discusiones no responden a la urgencia de una crisis que crece exponencialmente, sino al ritmo de las grandes corporaciones de combustibles fósiles, vinculadas a su vez al sistema financiero mundial, y a la riqueza de los países del Norte Global. Los más afectados, las comunidades del Sur Global, no son escuchados. El reconocimiento de una deuda ecológica del Norte Global con el Sur Global no aparece en los debates, y mucho menos la obligación de reducir sus emisiones de GEI a cero real y no a cero “neto”. El neoextractivismo y las finanzas vinculadas a la deuda prometen mantener el statu quo. Mientras tanto, más personas se ven desplazadas por la crisis climática a medida que los gobiernos de derechas ganan espacio y levantan sus muros.”

Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice is a network of over 200 networks and organisations working globally, regionally, and locally on climate justice. Collectively we represent millions of climate activists on the ground.Our members are available for comments and interviews in different languages. Contact: Neha Gupta, [email protected]; Signal/Whatsapp: +91 9810 078 055

Interventions, SB60

INTERVENTION BY GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO DEMAND CLIMATE JUSTICE AT OPEN-ENDED CONSULTATIONS BY COP 29 INCOMING PRESIDENCY ON THE EXPECTATIONS OF COP 29

My name is Thomas Joseph Tsewenaldin from The Hoopa Valley Tribe of Indigenous Peoples. I’m with Indigenous Environmental Network, delivering this statement on behalf of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, or DCJ. 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 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 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.

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 support strengthening 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 their registration. 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, Interventions, SB60

SES JOINT WORK ON CLIMATE ACTION ON FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

Undelivered Intervention

Thank you co-facilitator. I am speaking on behalf of the collaboration between YOUNGO food & agriculture, the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, the Women and Gender constituency, the Indigenous Peoples constituency, and YOUNGO Animal Rights. 

We appreciate the updates that are being discussed here today, this is the spirit of collaboration and the strength of the agriculture negotiations. We are supportive of the removal of annex 4 mentioned in paragraph 3.

While we recognize that these multistakeholder initiatives seek to support food systems action, they should NOT be central to the Joint Work or form the basis for action, voice, power, and decision-making. The focus must remain on inclusive, Party-driven, democratic processes that prioritize the needs and voices of vulnerable communities and Indigenous Peoples.

These initiatives platform and enable false solutions —-  such as GMOs, pesticides, factory farms, carbon offsets, ‘carbon farming’, and ‘carbon capture’ — that are heavily promoted by the agribusiness sector to keep business as usual in place of food sovereignty and agroecology as a real solution. We also want to emphasize that any innovation has to be people centred – it should not use technology to undermine livelihoods, rights and nature, for the sake of consolidating corporate control and profits. 

This is why we strongly support the removal of multistakeholder initiatives from the official text and removing the annex altogether We urge you to show your commitment AGAINST the very perpetrators of harm in food systems and in vulnerable communities and Indigenous Peoples around the world.

We hope that moving forward, participation of Observers will continue to be a pillar of the Sharm El Sheikh workshops and negotiations on agriculture and food security – we have so much to offer to keep this process moving forward to our shared goals. 

We look forward to the SSJW creating a special space to address the fundamental issues faced by farmers and those whose livelihoods and food security are particularly vulnerable to climate change, especially women, youth, indigenous peoples and marginalised communities.

Keen to get the work started and for that reason we strongly suggest that the first workshop already takes place at COP29 this year . As Civil society we remain available to support these efforts. 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. 

Interventions, SB60

 INTERVENTION BY GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO DEMAND CLIMATE JUSTICE AT ARRANGEMENT OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL MEETINGS

My name is Rachel Rose Jackson and I am speaking on behalf of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice. 

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 over this process on the other hand. 

We also do not see the various issues raised during this session as separate but deeply interlinked—the issues of regional balance, increase in observers, enhancing engagement, and managing capacity all require Parties to consider who is here, why, and whether they represent interests that fundamentally undermine the very objectives the UNFCCC is established to deliver. 

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 Parties to invite observers to engage in dedicated, constructive, deep dialogue on this topic, and to take measures to safeguard against the undue influence of polluting interests. In addition, Parties should draw on established international precedents and to acknowledge here the need address these vested interests. 

This includes the establishment of an Accountability framework that prevent entities with private, polluting interests from unduly influencing or undermining UNFCCC activities and processes through their engagement as representatives of non-governmental organizations; strengthen the process for admission and accreditation of observers within the UNFCCC and its convenings. 

Interventions, SB60

INTERVENTION BY GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO DEMAND CLIMATE JUSTICE ON GST ANNUAL DIALOGUE AT ROUNDTABLE 3 ON INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION 

Thank you co-facilitators.

I am Victor Menotti of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice speaking on behalf of Environmental NGOs.

ENGOs were asked to address the topic of international cooperation, an idea in the Paris Agreement‘s Article 14, which says, “in the light of equity and the best available science…the global stocktake SHALL inform Parties in…enhancing international cooperation“, thus making it integral for action going forward.

One main principle for effective cooperation is everyone doing their fair share, which is consistent with equity, in any collective effort. If major players shirk their responsibilities, then trust deteriorates, cooperation collapses and we fail to meet our common goal.

Economists call violators of this principle “free riders“ because they benefit from doing disproportionately little, while letting others bear the burden of caring for common goods. Even President Biden pushes for all Americans to pay their fair share of taxes.

Yet at yesterday’s NDC Roundtable, we saw considerable comment, and some confusion, not on aligning actions with 1.5C, but on how countries can do it equitably.

While NDCs might be, by definition, decided domestically, they must also be informed by international realities. If not, we will fail.

Since the Paris Agreement, civil society has used a climate equity calculator that shows, according to each country’s historical responsibilities and respective capabilities, its equitable contribution to the global effort of – not dividing a blown carbon budget – but actually achieving 1.5C equitably.  It includes the level of international cooperation required, because it is integral to getting to our goal equitably. 

Several Parties have also developed methodologies to quantify equitable contributions, beginning with Brazil from 25 years ago, as well as Switzerland, India, China, and who knows how many others. That‘s why ENGOs are urging Parties to use the GST Dialogue to discuss these methodologies, to debate their merits, and to urge countries to use them in developing their NDCs.  It’s not too late, so we again ask Parties to take up this discussion, formally or informally, but before you determine your contribution, and urgently.

GST outcomes also need cooperation to advance COP28‘s headline outcome of “transitioning from fossil fuels,“ since 60% of today‘s developed reserves must remain in the ground to stay within 1.5C. But doing this equitably, orderly and responsibly means cooperating on a level that is still unimaginable for many people today, yet the survival of our planet and its peoples depend on it; not in the future, but now. 

Cooperation on fossil fuels, to be fair, requires the largest historical polluters who are still major producers to be the first and fastest to phase out. For example, the US “pause“ on new LNG export permits must be made permanent, and put into its NDC. And its record oil output rapidly reduced so it stops undercutting stable prices that other oil-producing countries need to finance their own transitions.

Cooperation on finance means not only agreeing at COP29 on a quantum, its quality, etc., but delivering on that deal through updated NDCs with non-mitigation elements of finance and technology.  For the largest historical polluters to cut their emissions by merely the global average is one form of free riding, but then failing to provide the finance and technology they committed to provide further degrades trust and deepens the crisis.

Cooperation can also advance non-market approaches for forests and land to mobilize Means of Implementation for GST‘s goal of reversing deforestation by 2030, recognizing that carbon finance is not climate finance.

As ES SImon Steill noted at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, NCQG outcomes also depend  on what happens outside UNFCCC, from reforming MDBs to mobilizing private finance. That’s why NDCs could also incorporate actions resulting from other arenas of international cooperation, including:

– Debt reduction in ongoing restructuring talks;

– Tax justice through a new UN Tax Convention;

– Relaxing monopoly patents for intellectual property rights

– Reforming discriminatory world trade rules against developing countries

– Shifting fossil fuel subsidies toward energy sufficiency, efficiency, and renewables

– Redirecting military budgets toward climate finance while reducing military emissions.

All of these areas will provide more fiscal space to developing country budgets and significantly lower the overall bill for NCQG.

International cooperation must take many forms to fit the purpose of protecting our planet and its peoples, so see this as just a beginner’s list to get us going on what must become a new era of diplomacy that delivers climate justice.

Statements

More than 100 Climate Justice and Human Rights Organisations Call on German Government to End Suppression of Pro-Palestinian Voices

As a global network of human rights and climate justice organisations, we stand in unwavering solidarity with the people of Palestine. We see the struggle of the Palestinian people against occupation and apartheid as part of our collective struggle for climate, racial, economic, gender, and political justice and for a world where everyone has the right to live with dignity, free from oppression. Our commitment to justice, equity, and the preservation of our planet drives us to speak out against the interconnected injustices that fuel both human rights abuses and environmental destruction. It is in this spirit that we condemn the actions of the German government in suppressing pro-Palestine events and its complicity in the ongoing violence against the people of Palestine and Gaza.

Recent events in Germany have highlighted a disturbing trend of silencing dissent and stifling the voices of those who stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine. German police recently cracked down on peaceful pro-Palestinian protestors, with numerous incidents of excessive force and arbitrary detentions reported during demonstrations across major cities like Berlin. We stand in solidarity with the activists who have been subjected to unwarranted surveillance, and organisations that support Palestinian rights who have faced increased scrutiny and restrictions.

We call out this suppression that extends to the academic sphere as well, with experts like Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a British-Palestinian surgeon and witness to acts of war crimes by Israel in Gaza, being denied entry into Germany and other prominent figures like Yanis Varoufakis and Salman Abu Sitta simply for expressing solidarity with Palestine.

We condemn the German media and the political leaders for their racist and islamophobic rhetoric vilifying Palestine voices and supporters by attempting to brand anti-zionist narratives as anti-semetic.

By cracking down on peaceful protestors and banning experts, it is clear that the German government would rather align itself with oppressive regimes and contribute to the perpetuation of ongoing injustices in Gaza. This trend is not isolated to Germany; similar crackdowns on peaceful protests have been observed across the Global North, including the United States, where student protests on campuses in support of Palestine have also faced violent crackdown.

We also recall the hypocritical stance of Germany and the European Union lawmakers against Egypt, host of COP27 in 2022. As nations that talk about upholding fundamental human rights like the right to freedom of expression, and the right to assembly and association, the suppression of pro-Palestine activities and Palestinian voices in large parts of the Global North has laid bare the hegemony of the western world and exposed the truth of their “moral superiority”.

We call out Germany’s complicity in the ongoing conflict in Gaza that extends beyond the censorship of Palestinian voices. Between 2001 and 2020, Germany exported approximately $1.7 billion worth of military equipment to Israel. Its defence export approvals to Israel in 2023 rose nearly tenfold from the previous year and accounts for nearly 30% of arms supplied to Israel thus enabling the ongoing assault on Palestine and Gaza.

As of May 2024, the ongoing conflict in Gaza has resulted in over 36,000 Palestinian deaths, with the majority being women and children. More than 200 days of war has led to mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and near total destruction of infrastructure in Gaza, including residential areas, schools, and universities. A child is killed or wounded every 10 mins in Gaza, more than 10,000 women have been killed, including 2 mothers killed every hour in Gaza, and 250 Palestinians are killed every day by Israel. Nearly 200 aid workers, more than 100 journalists and 493 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza so far.

Right to health has been decimated in Gaza, as 84 per cent of all health facilities are damaged or destroyed and 62 percent of all homes have been destroyed in Gaza. Israel, supported by its western allies, including Germany, has consistently used starvation as a weapon of war, the devastating effects of which can be seen throughout Gaza as nearly 1.1 million people in Gaza are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

It is inexcusable that Germany and its western allies continue to arm a state engaged in such acts of aggression and human rights violations against the people of Palestine. We hold Germany and its western allies accountable for their unwavering support for Israel, as the majority of the world supports the South Africa’s genocide case against Israel  in ICJ as well as the ICC case where the ICC prosecutor recently requested arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and defence minister. 

We condemn Germany and western world’s silence on these proceedings that allow Israel to continue its genocidal war and intimidation with impunity and shows total destruction of the global rules based system.

A recent report by Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, states “Israel’s executive and military leadership and soldiers have intentionally distorted jus in bello principles, subverting their protective functions, in an attempt to legitimise genocidal violence against the Palestinian people”. We call on Germany, and the international community to uphold its moral and legal obligation to stop these attacks and support efforts that promote justice, accountability, and the protection of human rights for all.

We demand Germany and the western world to redirect resources expended on conflict and arms to address the pressing issue of climate change. In 2020, global military expenditure reached nearly $2 trillion. In addition to the direct financial cost, the carbon footprint of the world’s militaries is substantial at nearly 5.5% of the global emissions. The destruction caused by conflict leads to environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, and the displacement of communities, all of which compound the challenges of climate change.

The financial priorities of major powers also reflect a troubling disparity between military aid and climate action. Since 2016, the US has been giving Israel a military aid of $3.3 billion every year, which means, from 2016-2023, the US has spent $26.4 billion of public finance as military aid to Israel, a country that has been responsible for the oppression and apartheid of more than 5 million Palestinian people, including displacement of more than 2 million people within Gaza. In 2022, the US did not meet its climate finance obligation based on its historical responsibility, yet continued the delivery of the $3.3 billion military aid to Israel.  The struggle for human rights and the fight for climate justice are inextricably linked. Both are driven by the need to challenge systems of oppression and exploitation that prioritise profit and power over people and the planet. The colonial extractive systems that underpin the current climate crisis are the same systems that fuel conflict and human rights abuses.

We strongly reaffirm our solidarity with the people of Palestine and call on the global community to stand in unity with the oppressed. As we gather for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bonn from 3 June to 13 June 2024, we call on Germany and all our governments and international bodies to work together to end the war, and to bring all those responsible for war crimes to justice. We demand an end to the occupation and genocide of the Palestinian people and all those who are fighting for justice and dignity. We call on governments, corporations, and civil society to join us in challenging the systems of oppression and exploitation that threaten our planet and our future. There is no climate justice without human rights.

Our Demands

We call on the German government to:

  • End Impunity: Stop support for Israel, including ending arms sales to Israel particularly in the context of human rights violations and stop all support and funding to Israel immediately. Political alliances should not take precedence over human lives.
  • Support a Just Peace in Palestine: Advocate for a just and lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that respects the rights and dignity of all individuals.
  • Uphold Right to Free Speech and Assembly:  Respect the rights to free speech and peaceful assembly of Palestinian voices including the global civil society by allowing events and protests to proceed without intimidation or harassment
  • Redirect Military Spending to Climate Action: Reallocate military spending towards climate finance and to support peoples led solution to climate crisis

We also call on the international community to:

  • Immediate Ceasefire: We echo the calls of the United Nations Secretary General and  humanitarian and human rights organisations for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza
  • End the illegal blockade: Urgent humanitarian and emergency aid must be provided to civilians in Gaza. The people of Gaza are in dire need of medical supplies, food, water, and other essential resources, which need to be restored urgently.
  • Hold Israel Accountable: Ensure that Israel is held accountable for its genocidal war in Gaza and violations of international law and human rights, including its recent offensive in Rafah
  • Stop Racism, Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism: We stand in solidarity with our comrades in the Jewish and Muslim communities who face bigotry. The struggle for climate justice is a struggle for racial justice.
  • Promote Systemic Change: Challenge the colonial and extractive systems that drive both environmental destruction and human rights abuses.

Launching Organisations

Colectivo VientoSur, Chile

Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development

Third World Network

War on Want

Corporate Accountability

International

Aliança RECOs – Aliança em Redes de Comutiária desde o Sul Global

ANGRY – alliance of non-governmental radical youth

ASOCOLEMAD

Centre for Environment, Human Rights & Development Forum – CEHRDF

EDGE Funders Alliance 

Equal Right

Food Justice Network 

Global Forest Coalition

IBON International

International Rivers

JASS – Just Associates

Laboratorio Experimental do Som 

Movimento Mulheres pela Paz na Palestina

Parable of Sower Intentional Community Cooperative

RIPESS 

Society for International Development

The Rights Studio 

Regional

 THE CENTER OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW & HUMAN RIGHTS

Africa for SDGs 

ALTSEAN-Burma

AMJO

Asociación La Ruta del Clima 

Black Earth Kollektiv

Comitê de Energia Renovável do Semiárido-CERSA

Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa 

CSYM HUDUMA -MBUENET 

DARE Direct Action for Rights and Equality

End Fossil, Occupy! Utrecht 

Good Health Community Programmes 

Hawaii Peace and Justice

Indigenous Environmental Network

La Ruta del Clima 

Labor/Community Strategy Center

Migrant Workers Voice 

Mines mineral and people

Micronesia Climate Change Alliance

Natural Justice

Permanecer en la Tierra, Red Regional Latinoamérica y Caribe

Ponlok Khmer Organization

Regional Advocacy for Women’s Sustainable Advancement(RAWSA) Alliance for African&Arab States

Women Working Together USA

National

All Nepal Women’s Association (Socialist)

Associação Brasileira de Saúde Coletiva

Association Nigerienne des Scouts de l’Environnement (ANSEN)

Association pour la Conservation et la Protection des Écosystèmes des Lacs et l’Agriculture Durable 

Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA)

Brigada Cimarrona Sebastián Lemba.

Centro de estudios Heñói 

CLIMATE CHANGE NETWORK FOR COMMUNITY BASED INITIATIVES, INC. 

Equidad de Género: Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia

Food Sovereignty Alliance, India

Food Sovereignty and Climate Justice Forum/ TAFJA< Nepal

Free lanes 

Friends of the Earth Australia

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

Grupo Temático Saúde e Ambiente da Abrasco

Indian National Trade Union Congress-INTUC

Indian Social Action Forum 

International Islamic University, Islamabad 

Iser Assessoria

Kaam Aaj

Keine Organisation

KRuHA

Lützi lebt

Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation

National Fisheries Solidarity Movement 

National Sudanese Women Association 

Organisation Paysanne Pour lr Développement Durable

Otros Mundos Chiapas/Amigos de la Tierra México

Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum 

Palestinian Farmers Union, PFU

Participatory Development Action Program

Plataforma Boliviana Frente al Cambio Climático

Pragroshor -A Feminists Training and Resource Centre  

Roots for Equity

Secretária nacional do meio ambiente e desenvolvimento do Partido dos Trabalhadores Brasil

Skillistan 

Twaweza Community Development Agenda

Unión de Afectados por Texaco. (UDAPT)

Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar

Vikas Adhyayan Kendra

Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI)

Women and Modern World Social Charitable Center(CWMW)

Women for Green Economy Movement Uganda

World March of Women Kenya 

YUWA

Interventions, SB60

INTERVENTION BY GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO DEMAND CLIMATE JUSTICE AT SB60 OPENING PLENARY SESSION

My name is Thomas Joseph  from The Hoopa Valley Tribe of IPs. 

I’m with Indigenous Environmental Network, delivering this statement on behalf of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, or DCJ.  

Despite the Dubai decision to “transition from fossil fuels,” climate catastrophes are occurring more frequently and with greater degrees of severity. 

That means we need more clarity on how Global Stocktake outputs apply to make more ambitious and EQUITABLE Nationally Determined Contributions. 

The GST recognized historical emissions, and how developed countries have used up most of the carbon budget.

Limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius EQUITABLY requires countries who got rich first by burning fossil fuels must be the first and fastest to phase them out. The world needs them to end their expansion now, and center these efforts in their NDCs.

Dubai’s GST also made clear the failures of developed countries to deliver on their commitments to provide climate finance, and that Baku’s big decision will be agreeing on a New Collective Quantified Goal.

That means developed countries must mobilize the money by redirecting military budgets, shifting fossil fuel subsidies towards real solutions and not towards dangerous distractions, reforming world trade rules, waiving patents on climate technologies, canceling debts, and taxing wealthy polluters, among many other areas where we know the world’s wealth exists.

Carbon finance is NOT climate finance, and selling it as such serves only polluters. 

We need reparations, and we need them to go towards real solutions – those developed by peoples who are at the frontlines and suffer the disproportionate impacts of the climate crisis.

Lastly, we cannot ignore that rich countries are mobilizing more money towards war like in Palestine than for climate action. We reiterate that the struggle for human rights and the fight for climate justice are inextricably linked. Both are driven by the need to challenge systems of oppression and exploitation that prioritize profit and power over people and the planet. The colonial extractive systems that underpin the current climate crisis are the same systems that fuel conflict and human rights abuses.

We call on governments and civil society to join us in challenging the systems of oppression and exploitation that threaten our planet and our future. There is no climate justice without human rights. 

#CeasefireNow

#PayUp

Statements

COP28 is running into overtime, but your time is up to deliver climate justice

Statement from global climate justice groups

As we sit in the now nearly empty halls of COP28 in Dubai, governments are locked up in rooms, secretly negotiating texts that will either protect millions of lives or effectively sign the death warrant for so many around the world—communities of color, Indigenous Peoples, frontline and local communities, small peasant farmers, youth, and women. We are shut out, silenced, and left in the dark, even though it is many of our communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis that will be most directly impacted by what those in these halls do, or do not, deliver.  

But we know enough from what we have witnessed play out over the past two weeks during this round of UN climate talks to guess what is underfoot. And we know enough from having attended 28 COPs, all of which have failed to deliver the action needed to curb global emissions to Real Zero and implement a just transition along with the needed climate finance. We know enough, because we travel from around the world every year to stand for justice and to resist, while those in power, the political elite, and polluting corporations use this process to orchestrate their ‘get out of jail free’ card.

COP28 is in overtime, but we are here to say—time’s up. 

Time’s up to spend hours upon hours “taking stock” when we know we are grotesquely off track and nowhere near the mark. 

Time’s up to deliver the fast, fair, funded, false solutions-free fossil fuel phase out—of all fossil fuels—alongside the needed finance and technology for implementation, and without the use of adjectives like ‘unabated’ that mask the intent to actually ramp up fossil fuels.

Time’s up to announce the long overdue delivery of climate finance that those on the frontlines are owed. Finance that is public, community-controlled, and in line with each government’s fair share of climate action. There’s no point having ambition and setting lofty targets without a means for implementation for the Global South. 

Time’s up for Global North governments like the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Norway, Japan, and Australia to cease their climate bullying while proclaiming themselves climate champions, and to stop denying doing their fair share of climate action as the actors that are overwhelmingly responsible for the climate crisis. 

Time’s up to reject dangerous distractions and false solutions that are unproven, risky, do not meaningfully reduce emissions, cause great harm, and delay the needed end to the fossil fuel age. No more carbon markets, offsets, geo-engineering, nature-based solutions, nuclear, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen—all of which continue to enable the extractivist, racist, colonial, capitalist system that has perpetuated the climate crisis. 

Time’s up to finally enact just transitions that meet the urgent needs of the Global South and respects workers rights. A just transition that does not take into account historical responsibilities means nothing. 

Time’s up for Big Polluters, including the fossil fuel industry and industrial agriculture, to no longer be given the pen to write the rules of climate action, or the power to bankroll these talks and manipulate what happens here. We can no longer allow this process to be poisoned from the inside with Big Polluters’ profit and greed-driven motive. 

Time’s up on the complicit silence of the world while not far from Dubai, children, women, elderly, and men are being murdered by heinous acts of crimes against humanity, enabled by the same Global North actors that are here blocking every meaningful outcome these talks could and must deliver. We are over having to shout reminders that there is no climate justice without human rights, and no climate justice on occupied land. 

There is no more time for delaying and stalling. There is now only time for acting—urgently, fairly, and justly. The words “fossil fuels” in a text are meaningless if the rest of those pages are riddled with loopholes that not only enable but exacerbate the era of fossil fuels. Climate action is weakened if those who are most responsible are not held to account to lead by example. A phaseout is useless without the tools needed to actually achieve it. Climate action is pointless if it condemns billions to death and destruction. 

The Global North as perpetrators of the climate crisis are painting themselves as the victims trying to deliver a package here in Dubai. But what good is a package of false solutions, empty finance, and meaningless promises? COP28, now in overtime, risks setting a death trap for communities around the world. 

Climate Justice Now.  

From the undersigned organizations:

ActionAid International 

Alianza Socioambiental Fondos del Sur

Alliance Nationale de lutte contre la Faim et la Malnutrition ACFM Niger 

Artivistnetwork.org

Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD)

Association Nigerienne des Scouts de l’Environnement ANSEN 

Biofuelwatch

Casa Socio-Environmental Fund • Fundo Casa Socioambiental Brasil

Climate Emergency Fund

Climate Justice Alliance 

Colectivo VientoSur (Chile) 

Connected Advocacy for Empowerment and Youth Development Initiative 

Corporate Accountability

Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa 

Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)

Debt Justice UK

Debt Observatory in Globalisation (ODG) (Barcelona)

[Earth]

EcoEquity

Ecologistas en Acción (Spain)

Emerger Fondo Sociambiental Colombia

Entertainment & Culture Foundation

ETC Group

Fondo Ñeque Ecuador

Fondo Tierra Viva Centro América

Fondo Socioambiental Semilla Bolívia

Friends of the Earth International

Friends of the Earth U.S.

Fridays for Future Spain – Juventud x Clima

Fridays for Future USA

Fundação Grupo Esquel Brasil 

Gaia Coalition Network

Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA)

Global Forest Coalition

Global Justice Now

Grupo Ambientalista da Bahia

Help Initiative for Social Justice and Humanitarian Development 

Hivos 

IBON International 

Indigenous Climate Action

Indigenous Environmental Network

Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL)

International Student Environmental Coalition

ISPN – Instituto Sociedade, População e Natureza-Brasil

Konsorsium Pendukung Sistem Hutan Kerakyatan (KPSHK)

Oil Change International

Oil Watch Africa

PFC Family Office

Reacción Climática (Bolivia)

RedTailed Hawk Collective

Re:wild Your Campus

Pudú

The Zetkin Collective

Third World Network

TierrActiva Peru (TAP)

Viernes por el Futuro Perú

UKYCC

War on Want

WhatNext?

Women Donors Network

Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)

World Animal Protection

Zero Hour

350 Côte d’Ivoire

350.org

7 Directions of Service

Photo Credit: Ja Valenzuela, APMDD

Letters, SB58

Civil Society Groups Raise Concerns Over Increasing Push for Carbon Markets, Offsets, and False Solutions like Geoengineering and Land Based Removals During Climate Negotiations

7 July 2023

To:

The Supervisory Body Members, Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement

Parties to the UNFCCC –

This open letter from civil society groups from across the world reiterates our demands regarding the processes surrounding Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement and the wider issue of carbon markets and offsets. Namely:

  • Carbon markets, offsets schemes, and carbon removals cannot offer solutions to the climate crisis and instead further prop up a system that has enabled Big Polluters and rich countries to profit off of the crisis. They should therefore not be enabled under any provision of the Paris Agreement.
  • Land-based removals do not result in emission reductions and further lead to unacceptable negative environmental and social impacts, and foster unsustainable development, which are contrary to the objectives of the Paris Agreement and to adequate climate action – they should therefore be rejected.
  • Geoengineering removals are unproven, risky, and costly technologies that put the profits of Big Polluters above the protection of our communities and environment, and further distract and derail from the urgent, deep, real emission reductions needed – they should therefore be rejected.
  • Emissions avoidance should not be considered as it does not compensate for ongoing emissions, but instead poses a significant risk for inflating baselines.
  • Carbon markets cannot be enabled to be propped as climate finance in lieu of the commitments urgently needed from rich countries, including toward the loss and damage fund and in other UNFCCC work streams.
  • The process surrounding Article 6.4 is proving increasingly biased in favour of the industry and needs to be reassessed if it is to remain credible, including concerning the timeline of consultations and who is given a say in it.

OUR DEMANDS

Carbon Markets and Removals

We reiterate our opposition, as climate justice, human rights, Indigenous and gender justice groups and movements, to global carbon markets, offsets schemes, and carbon removals.  

The science is as clear as the increasing frequency and violence of climate impacts across the world: we cannot waste any more time for adequate climate action. Whilst impacts wreak havoc over our communities and ecosystems, Big Polluters carry on emitting under the cover of deceiving net zero claims. These schemes open the door to dangerous distractions in the form of land-based and technological removal offsets to be traded on carbon markets for Big Polluters to profit from. This should not be the result of an international agreement that was intended to avert climate catastrophe.

We refuse to buy into the greenwashing ploy to prop up these false solutions as climate action given that they not only do not address absolute emissions reductions but also perpetuate global North-South inequalities and inequities relating to carbon emissions.

Crucially we express our deep concern over the unacceptable environmental and social risks and costs that these so-called ‘solutions’ put on our communities. Removals and offsets cannot be considered as solutions so long as they continue to result in Indigenous rights violations, additional Human rights violations, land grabbing, and disproportionate impacts especially on communities in the global South and small peasant farmers communities.

We also reiterate that carbon markets are not climate finance. The climate debt of developed countries should be discharged through provision of public financial resources as part of the obligation of developed countries under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement and in line with the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR), not via carbon markets and offsets.

Issues with Removals

Land-based removals, or so-called ‘nature based solutions’, cannot compensate for the permanent emissions from the fossil fuels and other high emitting industries. An increasing number of investigations have demonstrated that these offsets are, in the majority of cases, worthless, and do not result in actual, real emission reductions. Further, such projects including REDD/+ schemes, tree plantations, and soil carbon farming, have been linked to extremely concerning Human rights and Indigenous rights abuses. We cannot allow for the appropriation of land from Indigenous Peoples, small peasant farmers, and communities first and foremost in the global South, or for the erasure of ancestral practices that have maintained and protected ecosystems for centuries. Safeguards are needed but cannot be enough. Any land based removal activities will risk perpetuating the systemic causes of violations of Indigenous customary land rights and territories. 

Technological removals, or geoengineering, provide the illusion that polluters can keep on emitting based on the promise of future technologies that would allow for the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. Geoengineering approaches, such as Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) or ocean fertilization and alkalinization or enhanced weathering, are risky, speculative, technologically unproven and/or unable to be proven at scale, and pose new impacts and considerable and unacceptable environmental and social risks, including serious threats to Indigenous rights and Human rights in general, and negative transboundary impacts. Their development at scale would drive disproportionate economic cost as well as put an irreversible strain on scarce resources such as land and water that we desperately need to uphold living systems. Science says we need to urgently phase out fossil fuels. The IPCC states that the best way to curtail climate change is “deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions” this decade and that Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies are “uncertain and entail(s) clear risks”. The IPCC has been critically questioned for its over-use of CDR technologies in its mitigation scenarios. An equity assessment of global mitigation pathways in the IPCC 6th Assessment Report finds that the continued fossil fuel use in developed countries, even until 2050, is compensated for by higher sequestration (through land-based and Carbon Capture and Storage technologies in developing regions).

Crucially, the amount of land required for both types of removals (land-based or some geoengineering technologies such as Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage, BECCS) will result in competition with cropland and associated negative impacts on food sovereignty, biodiversity loss, Human rights abuses, and increased food prices. Techniques like Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement and Enhanced Weathering would demand an additional expansion of the mining industry, creating more ‘sacrifice zones’, more habitat destruction, and adverse impacts on water quality. Not only would they impact communities and land, they could be detrimental for marine ecosystems and life. All of these techniques require an increase in energy use across their value and supply chains. In the case of DACCS, immense energy is needed that would drive the continued use of fossil fuels causing more and more delay.

As civil society groups and communities impacted by climate change we reiterate our demands for real, deep, and urgent emission reductions in line with principles of fair shares; as well as our opposition to the dangerous distractions that carbon markets, offsets, and net zero schemes represent.

Article 6.4 and Article 6.2

  • There should not be carbon markets, especially those that enable offsets, under the Paris Agreement. To include removals in such mechanisms is profoundly dangerous, due to continuing concerns about lack of permanence, additionality, the negative impacts and pose high risk on people and the environment, and reliance on speculative technology that is unproven or/and unable to be proven at scale, among others.
  • Geoengineering-based removals need to be excluded. The moratorium under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) must be respected as well as the precautionary decisions of the London Protocol / London Convention (LC/LP) given the risks they pose to communities and the environment. All BECCS, DAC, CCS, CCUS, or any other marine or land-based geoengineering proposals must be excluded from Article 6.4 as well as any other articles of the Paris Agreement.
  • Removal activities risk fostering unsustainable development in developing countries, resulting in land grabs and competition with cropland which will increase food prices. This goes against the objective of Article 6 and is a form of climate injustice.
  • Removals into land and soils cannot compensate for permanent emissions from fossil fuels. This cannot be resolved by carbon accounting practices. Emissions avoidance should not be considered as it does not compensate for ongoing emissions, but instead poses a significant risk for inflating baselines.
  • Carbon markets are not climate finance, and cannot provide an escape hatch in lieu of the needed financial commitments with rich countries taking the lead – including toward the loss and damage fund as well as with financial agreements in other UNFCCC work streams. 
  • Not only must there be an independent and effective grievance redress mechanism in line with respecting the right to remedy – all techniques and projects being considered must first undergo independent and rigorous preliminary Human rights and biodiversity impact evaluations that take into consideration the full life-cycle impacts, pursued with meaningful, inclusive and participatory consultations with all right-holders and communities potentially affected.

Process Flaws

We express our concerns regarding the process surrounding Article 6.4 and the engagement with stakeholders and rights holders. 

Firstly, as the objectives of Article 6 aim to allow for higher mitigation ambition and to promote sustainable development, it seems an obvious conflict of interest to allow for the input of industries that have been fueling climate change as well as distracting and delaying adequate action for decades. In line with the Kick Big Polluters Out demands, we reiterate that Big Polluters should not be granted access to policy making. The consultation process held by the Supervisory Body for Article 6.4 provides a strategic opportunity for pro-markets stakeholders to strengthen their tactics and therefore renders the process deeply flawed. Rights holders, on the other hand, must be given adequate avenues to actively provide input and influence the process and provisions of Article 6.4.

We also express our disappointment in the way the additional June 19th  consultation process was carried out. The short turnaround time offered for rights holders and civil society to provide additional and more specific feedback – while in the heart of the SB58 negotiations – is on the verge of improper consultation that privileged time to the Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) industry. 

We are concerned that the unbalance of this process could lead to a disproportionate influence of the CDR industry on the process going forward, which would put into question the credibility of the Supervisory Body and the whole process. We therefore call on the Supervisory Body to maintain its impartiality in the process and to not allow for the influence of an industry that has so much interest in the question to weaken provisions regarding such risky and dangerous processes as carbon dioxide removals.

Sincerely,

Organizational Signatories

350.org

AbibiNsroma Foundation

Accelerate Neighborhood Climate Action

ActionAid International

Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development

Association des Agriculteurs Sans Frontières AASF DRC 

Association Jeunes Agriculteurs (AJA)

Association pour la protection de l’environnement et le développement durable de Bizerte APEDDUB 

Biofuelwatch

Break.The.Ice

Businesses for a Livable Climate

Call to Action Colorado

Catholic Network US

CCFD – Terre Solidaire

Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)

Centre for Rights and Democracy (CRD) South Sudan

Centre for Citizens Conserving Environment & Management (CECIC) Uganda

Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy (CFFP)

Centro Ecológico

Climate Justice Alliance

Climate Action Network Australia

Collectif Sénégalais des Africaines pour la Promotion de l’Éducation Relative à l’Environnement (COSAPERE)

Community for Sustainable Energy

Congo Basin Conservation Society CBCS network DRC

Consejo Shipibo Konibo Xetebo Peruvian Amazonia

Corporate Accountability

Corporate Europe Observatory

Earth Ethics, Inc. 

EcoEquity 

EcoNexus

Elders Climate Action

Emonyo Yefwe International 

Ensemble pour la Justice climatique et la Protection des Défenseurs de l’environnement 

Environmental Defence Canada

Equidad de Género: Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia

ETC group

Friends of the Earth Canada

Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Friends of the Earth Georgia

Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND e.V)

Friends of the Earth International

Friends of the Earth Japan

Friends of the Earth Spain

Friends of the Earth U.S.

Front Commun pour la Protection de l’Environnement et des Espaces Protégés (FCPEEP RDC)

GenderCC SA

Global Forest Coalition

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance

Green Revolution Initiative GRI ltd DRC

groundWork/ Friends of the Earth South Africa

Grupo para o Desenvolvimento da Mulher e Rapariga (GDMR)

Honor the Earth

I-70 Citizens Advisory Group

Iakwatonhontsanónstats of Kahnawake 

Indigenous Environmental Network

Indivisible Ambassadors

Innovation pour le Développement et la Protection de l’Environnement (IDPE)

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Institute for Globalization Studies

Institute for Policy Studies Climate Policy Program

Institute of Socioeconomic Studies (Inesc)

International Network of Liberal Women

Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement Côte d’ivoire (JVE Côte d’Ivoire)

Just Transition Alliance

Khumbilo Agroecology Media Services

Larimer Alliance for Health, Safety and Environment 

Les Amis de la Terre-Togo

LIFE Education Sustainability Equality e.V.

Littleton Business Alliance

Mayfair Park Neighborhood Association Board

Mental Health & Inclusion Ministries

MenEngage Global Alliance

Milieudefensie

Montbello Neighborhood Improvement Association

Movement For Education And Advocacy Network Salone 

National Birth Equity Collaborative

National Campaign for Sustainable Development Nepal

National Family Farm Coalition

Natural Justice

NGO Forum on ADB

NOAH Friends of the Earth Denmark

Ntaamba Hiinta Development Trust

Peace Track Initiative 

Plateforme Ivoirienne sur le Climat (PIC)

RapidShift Network

Reacción Climática – Bolivia 

ReCommon 

Réseau Peace World International 

Rise Up Movement DRCongo 

Save EPA

Sahabat Alam Malaysia – Friends of the Earth Malaysia

Santa Cruz Climate Action Network

Sciences Citoyennes

Secours catholique- Caritas France

Small Business Alliance

Société Civile environnementale et Agro Rurale du Congo SOCEARUCO RDC

Southwest Organization for Sustainability

Spirit of the Sun, Inc.

Stay Grounded Network

System Change Not Climate Change

TEAL Climate

The Green House Connection Center

The Mind’s Eye

The People’s Justice Council

The RedTailed Hawk Collective 

Third World Network

Union Nationale des Marginalisés pour un Développement Durable UNAMDD DRC

Unite North Metro Denver

Vision Plus pour le Développement Durable (VIPDD/RDC)

Wall of Women

War on Want

Wen (Women’s Environmental Network)

Western Slope Businesses for a Livable Climate

WhatNext?

Women Changing The World

Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF) International

Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF-A0)

Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network

Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)

Womxn from the Mountain

Working for Racial Equity

Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity 

Zambian Governance Foundation

Zero Hour