“Every COP feels like a broken record”

Bonn, Monday 13 November 2017: As COP23 enters its high-level segment, Friends of the Earth International has urged developed countries to stop blocking progress on pre-2020 finance and emissions reductions, and to commit to taking action on the ground.

It added that calls for action during the people’s climate march in Germany last week, where 20,000 people mobilized to call for an end to dirty energy, must be matched at the negotiations.

Meena Raman of Friends of the Earth Malaysia said:

“We come every year to the COP feeling like a broken record. Instead of showing real ambition, developed countries including those in the EU are blocking pre-2020 action – they are in bed with the US to screw the planet. We in civil society are calling on these governments to honour their commitments. They are failing even to honour their weak but legally binding Kyoto Protocol targets. What hope is there that they will fulfill their unambitious non-legally binding Paris commitments?”

Sara Shaw of Friends of the Earth International added:

“We only have a few years left to keep global temperature rise under 1.5 degrees and avoid even more devastating climate impacts for the poorest and most vulnerable people. We urgently need an end to dirty energy in the North, and we need massive financing for sustainable renewable energy in the South. Those who call themselves ‘climate leaders’ like the EU are actually expanding fossil fuels within their own borders, funding dirty energy overseas, and failing to deliver finance for energy transformation in the South. This is not leadership.”

During the first week of COP23, Friends of the Earth Europe issued a report showing that the EU cannot expand gas infrastructure and stay within its fair share of the global carbon budget.

Mary Church from Friends of the Earth Scotland said:

“People are frustrated with the lack of urgency on climate change in the EU and other developed countries. We have seen this on the streets of Bonn with the biggest ever climate protest in Germany, and the direct action that closed a nearby coal pit. People’s movements are growing in strength and starting to bring about the real change that’s needed to respond to the climate crisis.”

Raman concluded:

“Developed countries, who bear historic responsibility for climate change, are seeking to rewrite the terms of the Paris Agreement shifting responsibility onto developing countries. This is unethical, unfair and immoral. We need real climate action on the ground and to hold all governments to account to ensure real transformation away from dirty energy, and towards a clean energy system that benefits people.”

ENDS

Notes for editors

Background:

Friends of the Earth International has criticised the Paris Agreement of 2015 for taking a weak “bottom up” approach to emissions reductions for developed countries, and providing no real finance commitments. The organisation has also condemned false solutions to climate change, such as carbon markets, which allow rich countries to keep emitting carbon.

In Week 2 of COP23, Friends of the Earth International will be calling for:

• Urgent pre-2020 action by developed countries on mitigation and finance – including commitments to phase out coal and other dirty energy, and providing finance for energy transition, adaptation, and loss and damage in developing countries according to their fair shares.
• A genuine and effective Facilitative Dialogue that will lead to more ambitious nationally determined contributions (NDCs) based on equity and fair shares.
• No loopholes – developed countries must not use false solutions like carbon markets and unproven negative emissions technologies to avoid making real emissions cuts
• Immediate action and support for loss and damage – communities are already impacted by climate change.

NEXT EVENT:

Monday 13 November 17.30-18.00 Friends of the Earth International press conference: Expectations for Week 2 (Press Conference Room 2, BULA Zone 3)

Image

Over 20,000 people mobilizing in Bonn to demand an end to coal and dirty energy and call for climate justice ahead of COP23. 4 November 2017. © Amelia Collins/Friends of the Earth International

More images from COP23 here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/foei/albums/72157688773958034

KEY REPORTS

Call for just solutions for climate induced migration in Asia Pacific (November 2017) https://www.foei.org/features/calls-just-solutions-climate-induced-migration-asia-pacific

Can the climate afford Europe’s gas addiction? (November 2017) http://www.foeeurope.org/NoRoomForGas

Decade Zero https://www.foei.org/resources/publications/decade-zero (November 2016)

Stop Financing Coal in Asia Pacific (May 2017) https://www.foei.org/news/asian-development-bank-must-end-50-year-addiction-coal

For more information or to arrange interviews please contact:

Julia Karlysheva/ julia@foei.org

About Friends of the Earth International:

Friends of the Earth International is the world’s largest grassroots environmental network, uniting 75 national member groups and some two million members and supporters around the world. We challenge the current model of economic and corporate globalisation, and promote solutions that will help to create environmentally sustainable and socially just societies: www.foei.org