As the UN climate summit in Glasgow reaches the critical last three days of negotiations, the UK government has published the first draft decision text. In response to this, 350.org campaigners said:
Cansin Leylim spokesperson for 350.org said
“This draft decision has some important points in it that are worth celebrating. For example, there’s a decision to do yearly synthesis reports – if this can be done without creating additional burden on countries from most affected regions it means we can stop governments spreading misinformation on how their pledges will help us keep to 1.5 degree warming. This is essential as we are still on track to nearly three degrees of heating which is devastating for communities around the world, especially across the global south.
The text calls for phasing out coal use and fossil fuel subsidies, this is the first time fossil fuels are named in 25 years of UN climate negotiations and that is a huge testament to the people power and grassroots actions that has pushed continuously for the end of fossil fuels. But ending just coal is not enough. All fossil fuels need to be phased out. By focusing only on coal, we risk creating a dynamic in which poor countries with coal infrastructure are punished while rich countries with more fossil gas in their energy mix are rewarded. Fossil fuels need to go all together.”
Agnes Hall campaigner at 350.org said
“As ever it’s not what the text says but what it doesnt say, there is still a glaring omission of any financial aspects of the deal. If developed countries don’t put their money where their mouths are, then this is all just hot air. We are yet to see what the final text will look like, but now is the time to raise our voices at the UN climate summit. It is critical for countries if they are to adapt and mitigate the impacts of climate change that we see significant movement on finance. We need to mobilize to make sure that whatever states are committing to, will be implemented faster and at a greater scale.
Besides finance, there is also no mention of the negotiations on transparency, carbon markets, loss and damage, and these will be crucial to deal with later this week.
There’s an ambition gap, but there’s most importantly an implementation gap and this is the task of the climate justice movement now: we need to make sure that we’re catching up with the time lost to fossil fuel lobbies. Catching up with time means avoiding more lost time – this is why we say no to false solutions. We need to focus on concrete measures, beginning with the most straightforward one: keep fossil fuels in the ground.”