Today, we hosted our very first webinar dedicated to the Five Principles for a Just Recovery.
350.org, alongside over 500 organizations, is calling on governments to address the covid-19 crisis and economic recession by putting people’s health and jobs first.
As trillions of dollars are earmarked for recovery packages and economic stimulus, these resources should also put us on the path of transforming our energy systems and addressing the climate crisis. That includes initiating a managed decline of the fossil fuel industry and investing in the creation of millions of clean jobs.
Panelists for the webinar included Climate Strike’s Luisa Neubauer, International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC) Bert De Wel, Greenpeace’s Yeb Saño and 350.org’s May Boeve.
Watch the webinar:
Here are some powerful statements from the speakers:
“The choices being made right now will shape our society for years, if not decades to come. These choices must put people first, and must also accelerate our action against the climate crisis. The remedy for the climate crisis and for COVID-19 recovery can and should go hand in hand. This is a time to be decisive in saving lives and bold in charting a path to a genuinely healthier and more equitable future through a just recovery. Our old “normal” was already a crisis – we can’t go back to it, we need to build back better.
We have seen how people can move quickly to change their behaviors, how governments and companies can change policies and unlock resources quickly, when it is a matter of life and death. We know this can happen, and we need it to happen to address the very present threat posed by the climate crisis.“— May Boeve, Executive Director of 350.org
“The Paris Climate Agreement and the UN SDGs are a road map for recovery and resilience. We cannot accept any compromises from any government on the presentation of new national climate plans (NDCs) this year. The NDCs should contain Just Transition plans based on social dialogue processes with workers that build trust in societies. At the same time, we need to mobilize for a new economic model that protects people, nature and biodiversity and creates a more sustainable and just economy”
— Bert De Wel, ITUC
“As governments start making plans to get out of the recession, trillions of dollars are earmarked for economic recovery, but the climate movement is not invited to the table, unlike industry representatives in most places.
Decisions that would usually take decades are now being crunched into a few months. However, we will have to live with the consequences of these decisions for a very long time – this is a matter of democracy and intergenerational justice.
The struggle is now between those who are using their power to maintain the status quo – including most governments and economic actors – and those who can imagine a new, better, more just version of normality.
This is why we are finding new ways to mobilize, online and offline, and learning a lot from it”
— Luisa Neubauer, Climate Strikes
“This is a moment of reckoning and of disruption.
We live in a world today that is dramatically different from the world we saw even two months ago; but we do live in the same world where the climate crisis persists, we live in the same world order that has betrayed us time and again and that created the climate crisis and many more of the other crises we need to deal with.
This crisis presents the perfect opportunity for governments and elites to roll out their agendas, which will deepen inequalities, assault democracy and push through radical free market policies and more self-perpetuating growth. But this crisis has also offered a temporary pause from infinite growth. We can make this the start of an evolutionary leap, and seize the opportunity to address the root causes of the many fundamental injustices and crises, including the climate breakdown”
— Yeb Saño, Greenpeace Southeast Asia
After this insightful webinar, what’s next? In the coming weeks, we’ll be helping make #JustRecovery happen in our countries and communities. Stay tuned for more, and please add your name to the Just Recovery principles open letter, then share your ideas about it on social media using the hashtag #JustRecovery.