Friends of the Earth International at COP27

*** Spokespeople available for comment and interview ***

Friends of the Earth International, the world’s largest grassroots environmental network, 
hosts a delegation of experts and activists at the UN climate talks in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Friends of the Earth will bring voices from across Africa and the world inside the COP conference halls, to call for action based on climate justice principles.

The group will highlight the urgent need for wealthy countries to pay due climate finance for Adaptation and for the irreversible impacts of extreme weather changes – Loss and Damage. They will warn how the race for ‘Net Zero’, shifting us towards ‘nature-based’ solutions and unproven technofixes, will do more harm than good.

We will have spokespeople in Sharm El Sheikh and remotely, connected to the climate justice movement worldwide and standing in solidarity with repressed civil society in Egypt.

See below our key activities, press conferences and publications.

To receive more information and press releases, send your contact details to: Madeleine Race // madeleine[at]foei.org // @foeint

Agenda – Friends of the Earth International COP27

Wednesday 2 November
Media briefing: “Net zero” initiatives: a dangerous trap set by Big Polluters
Ahead of the talks, we release with our ally Corporate Accountability an analysis of how deeply-conflicted the world’s most celebrated “net zero” initiatives are. Embargoed copies available upon request.

Thursday 3
Report: Double Jeopardy
Friends of the Earth International publish a report highlighting how the transformative solutions to the climate and food crises – specifically agroecology for food sovereignty – risk being coopted and weakened in the shift to ‘nature based solutions’. Embargoed copies available upon request.

Friday 4
Position paper: Don’t Let Africa Burn
In a short leaflet, African climate justice advocates reiterate that the gas rush led by European countries is a threat to the continent’s environment, economy and people. Embargoed copies available upon request.

Sunday 6
Press conference: Friends of the Earth International: Expectations and demands for climate justice
16.00-16:30 in Luxor Room, Taba Area. Watch here

Saturday 12
Activism: Global day of action for climate justice

Press conference: Friends of the Earth comment on COP27 so far
10.00-10:30 in Luxor Room, Taba Area (and online) 

Event: Build a future of real solutions, not a fossil fuel house of cards
13:15-14:45 in Akhenaten (150) 
A panel of civil society and indigenous peoples’ organisations present credible solutions for a just transition, and explore the obstacles.

Event: The Role of Financiers and Investors in Africa’s and Asia’s Energy Transition
16:45-18:15 in Osiris (300) 
A discussion on the just energy transition and how to divert investors away from expanding fossil fuel extraction towards supporting clean energy.

Event: International Cooperation for a Rapid, Just and Equitable Energy Transition
16:45-18:15 in Akhenaten (150) 
Launch of the latest Civil Society Equity Review, on the need for North-South cooperation to achieve a just transition and climate goals. 

Wednesday 16
Event: Peoples’ Solutions to the Climate Crisis
16:45-18:15 in Osiris (300) 
Asian organisations join the European food sovereignty movement to discuss the real solutions to the climate crisis, led by affected people.

Event: Carbon Bombs the biggest fossil fuel projects and how to defuse them
16:45-18:15 in Memphis (300) 
A global overview of “carbon bombs” (fossil fuel projects with >1 Gigaton potential CO2 emissions) and the people resisting them.

Friday 18
Press conference: Friends of the Earth International closing analysis from experts and activists
13.00-13:30 in Luxor Room, Taba Area (and online) 

Spokespeople and media contacts

dipti bhatnagar, Climate justice & energy coordinator, Friends of the Earth International
// dipti[at]foei.org // Whatsapp/Signal +258 84 035 6599 // @diptimoz // in Egypt 6-12 November // speaks English, Portugese, Spanish, Hindi

Sara Shaw, Climate justice & energy coordinator, Friends of the Earth International
// sara[at]foe.co.uk // Whatsapp/Signal +44 79 7400 8270 // @climatemouse // in Egypt 12-20 November // speaks English, Spanish

Ubrei-Joe Maimoni, Climate justice & energy project coordinator, Friends of the Earth Africa // maimoni[at]foei.org // Whatsapp/Signal +234 806 389 4925 // in Egypt 5-11 November

Friends of the Earth members from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America are available to provide analysis and comments in English, Spanish, French, and other languages

For more info and to arrange interviews, contact:

Madeleine Race // madeleine[at]foei.org // @foeint // available remotely 1-12 November // in Egypt 13-20 November

Babawale Obayanju // owaleseun[at]gmail.com // WhatsApp/Signal +234 807 205 1368 // @tifekorede // in Egypt 5-17 November

dipti bhatnagar (Friends of the Earth International) says from Mozambique:

“For COP27 to truly be the ‘implementation COP’ that protects people from devastating climate change, rich countries need to go beyond their commitment of $100 billion climate finance, and shift away from phoney ‘Net Zero’ pledges. We need real emissions cuts, an end to public financing for fossil fuel projects, and progress towards the energy transition. The notion that we can overshoot 1.5°C then reverse warming later through seductive-sounding ‘nature based’ solutions and unproven technofixes is anti-science and inhumane.”

Ubrei-Joe Maimoni (Friends of the Earth Africa) says from Nigeria:

“The craving for gas from Africa is a short-term fix for Europe, with long-term consequences for my continent. We are already struggling to adapt to extreme weather, rising hunger and resource plundering by wealthy countries and companies. Around half the African population still lack access to electricity. Our research has shown that with the fair share of funding from wealthy countries and the political will, Africa could achieve the total transition to renewable energy that we need, by 2050.”

Publications

For background on our positions and proposals, browse below.

• Webpage: Calling for climate justice at the UNFCCC climate talks
• Briefing: What’s at stake regarding false solutions? (2022)
• Report: Fossil futures built on a house of cards (2022)
• Position/report: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing – position on Nature Based Solutions (2021)
• Africa report: A Just Recovery Renewable Energy Plan for Africa (2021)
• Report: The Big Con: How Big Polluters are advancing a “net zero” climate agenda to delay, deceive, and deny (2021)