2009

Developed countries must make urgent and deep emission cuts - at home. Offsetting is a false solution.

Developed countries must tackle climate change by urgently cutting domestic emissions. Carbon offsetting – when developed countries buy carbon credits from developing countries to avoid cutting emissions themselves – has no part to play in a just international agreement to fight climate change.

Governments of developed countries know that offsetting is ineffective in combating climate change but are attempting to deceive the public by promoting investment in offsetting as real action against climate change.

Carbon offsetting has no benefits for the climate or for developing countries – it only benefits developed countries, private investors and major polluters who want to continue business as usual.

Including forests in carbon offsetting initiatives is damaging and diverts attention from the real solutions to climate change and deforestation.

Trading in forests has no part to play in a just international agreement to tackle climate change.

Including forests in carbon offsetting initiatives does not work: it diverts attention from real measures to reduce emissions and prevent deforestation, and threatens Indigenous Peoples who depend on them for survival.

all Public money to fight climate change must go through the United Nations, not the World Bank.

The World Bank is the largest multi-lateral lender for oil and gas projects and a major actor in deforestation. It has failed to accept its own internal recommendations to stop funding destructive coal, oil and gas extraction.

The World Bank is not a transparent or democratic institution and its decision-making is dominated by 'donor' countries. It is also the world's largest carbon broker and it would be a conflict of interest to become the world's largest conduit for climate change mitigation funding.

In addition, any funding outside of the UNFCCC - including the World Bank’s climate investment funds - should not be regarded as fulfilment of developed country commitments.

The people's agreement is an important counter-balance to the negative proposals at the UN climate talks

Friends of the Earth International sees the People’s Agreement that came out of the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia as a counter-balance to the overwhelmingly negative proposals on the table in the UN climate talks.

We reject any attempts to blame Bolivia and other ALBA countries (Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas) that are championing certain key demands such as the rejection of carbon markets and promotion of community rights. Bolivia is sensitively listening to the demands of the environmentalists, trade unions, social movements, peasant farmers and Indigenous Peoples and we call on other governments to follow its strong lead.

We and our allies have engaged with the People’s Agreement and accompanying process post-Cochabamba as a progressive development in the climate debate. We seek to use it in order to promote referenda and tribunals (popular and legal), community rights, and to highlight its legitimacy as a progressive proposal in the UNFCCC negotiations to provide a counter-balance to other negative proposals.

Climate justice means emission cuts in developed countries, and money for developing countries to grow cleanly and adapt to the effects of climate change – but it also means a change in our consumption patterns.

Climate justice will be achieved when the countries that have the most historical responsibility for causing climate change do the most to prevent further damage and substantially reduce their own emissions at home.

Developing countries, and impoverished communities and people, have contributed least to the causes of climate change, yet they are most affected. 

Rich, developed countries are liable for the vast majority of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today, and are thus the most responsible for climate change.

Developed countries should finance the transition to low carbon economies in developing countries and support their adaptation to the impacts of climate change, while recognising their rights to develop as sustainable societies.

Developed countries have a climate debt and must repay it.

The climate debt is the debt that rich nations have to repay to developing ones because they emitted the vast majority of the greenhouse gases currently in the atmosphere, far more than their ‘fair share’.

Developed countries must repay the climate debt owed to developing countries taking into account historical responsibility. This encompasses immediate and rapid emissions reductions, just and effective financial flows, appropriate technology transfer and reparation of damages done.

All climate finance must contribute to community-based solutions that are truly sustainable, particularly those initiated by Indigenous Peoples, women and small-scale farmers.

Climate finance must exclude false solutions, such as plantations, agrofuels, nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage.

Any agreements must be consistent with existing international human rights treaties and obligations, particularly the UN Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We need a strong agreement.

I wish: Binding deal in Copenhagen

Now!

Help!  Climate law now!

Stop it climate change!  You can do it!  The citizens of the world expect you to act!

Let's not flood the Pacific Islands.

I want the climate agreement.

Strong deal for save future.

I want a strong climate agreement.

Listen to your heart!

Act now - reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

Please!  Save the world!

Let's keep the earth cool!

Courage to act.  Two degrees thank you!

Actions matter more than words - make it happen today.  Save the world!

Greetings, waiting for winter.  - Helvi

Winter in Finland 2050

Keep the world worth living in!

Save money, stop climate change.

We need action not just words any more!

I want to teach my children to ski!

Present actions can save the future.

Doesn't concern me.

Is this what you want?

The world’s fastest Mount Everest climber, Pemba Dorje Sherpa, has called on the Australian government to halve the country’s carbon pollution by the middle of the next decade to help stop the melting of the Himalayas.

Mr Sherpa says his home is changing because of global warming.


“The glaciers around Everest are disappearing and our way of life is being
threatened,” he says.

Mr Sherpa’s call for action coincides with the release of a Friends of the Earth report which says the big melt in the Himalayas is the one of humanity’s single greatest threats from global warming.

“Warming across the greater Himalayas is two-to-four times the global average. This rise in temperature will increase hazards such as avalanches, debris flows, landslides and flash floods,” says FoE spokesperson Damien Lawson. 

Find out more about the big melt of the Himalayas and read the FoE report here.

The drama-documentary follows an old man living in the devastated world of 2055, asking himself the question, "why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance?".  The incredibly provocative and powerful film has helped bring about important discussion around climate change ahead of the Copenhagen Summit in December of this year.

• Find out where you can watch the film in your country
  

The premiere of The Age of Stupid took place worldwide on September 21/22 on the International Day of Climate Action. Friends of the Earth groups that took part in the screening included Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cyprus, France, Hungary, Romania and many more.

Celebrities and politicians from all over the globe put their weight behind the film. The New York premiere alone was attended by Kofi Annan, Gillian Anderson, Moby, The Age of Stupid's Oscar-nominated star Pete Postlethwaite and filmmakers Franny Armstrong and Lizzie Gillett. 

Many other celebrities arrived in New York by sailing boat, bike, rickshaw, electric car or skateboard before walking down the green (not red!) carpet.

Let's hope the film will inspire people in developed countries to cut down on their carbon emissions and call for a just agreement at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen this December.

For information about the film and how you can still see it go to The Age of Stupid website.

Watch the trailer here:

To All Politicians,

I am asking you to do the right thing in Copenhagen; you have our lives in your hands.

Your commitment to our environment will affect the lives of our future generations and how and if they can live in this world.

Remember, with climate change, there are no second chances; we cannot rectify your mistakes.
Yours in Peace

Michael