Climate change

Apathy and discontent are a heady mix. MEP candidates in the UK are facing both in this week's EU elections. But is it really the voters who are apathetic?

World Development Movement (WDM) supporters are committed people who care deeply about global poverty and work hard in their spare time to campaign locally on global justice issues and engage others to take part in the democratic process. During the EU election campaign, WDM supporters have written hundreds of probing emails and letters and held numerous MEP hustings across the country encouraging candidates to pledge to stop Europe's unfair free trade deals, if they are elected.

Of course, in the context of global economic crisis the issue of free trade is one of the most important facing these aspiring parliamentarians. At the last count, 75 candidates had signed the World Development Movement's ‘Trade Hero’ pledge, with more pledges coming in every day. Clearly MEP candidates have a responsibility to offer solutions and opinions to their constituencies.

And yet, despite the success of the pledge, feedback from WDM supporters also shows disappointment in the candidates who arrived at meetings late, unprepared or both, or who cancelled attendance at the last minute. Surely, prospective politicians should...

In response to the current crisis of confidence in our parliamentary system, the World Development Movement has joined with artists, activists and politicians in signing an open letter published in the Observer, calling for a referendum on proportional representation on the same day as the next general election.

Our society faces real problems; including mass unemployment, growing poverty and the threat of climate chaos. These challenges require effective government working on behalf of the popular will. A new electoral system that makes everyone's vote count could be crucial to maintaining public faith and engagement in our political system.

WDM believes a referendum on this issue could help restore trust between voters and Parliament that has been badly damaged by the MP expenses scandal. Just as radical action is needed to fix a broken economic system, we believe that the time has come for a debate by the British public on whether democratic reform to our political system is needed to address the unprecedented challenges faced by our society.

For more information, please call Kate Blagojevic on 020 7820 4900

Kate Blagojevic
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The World Development Movement welcomed Ed Miliband’s announcement that there is no place for unabated coal in our energy future at a time of climate crisis. However, the campaign group warned that the proposal leaves a giant loop hole that could still lead to disastrous levels of emissions before 2025. The proposed new plant at Kingsnorth in Kent could alone emit as much as the whole of Ghana each year.

“I’m delighted that the Minister has finally recognised there is no place for unabated coal at this time of climate crisis.” said Benedict Southworth, WDM’s Director.

But the Government is committing billions of pounds of taxpayers money on a technology [CCS] that remains untested on a large scale and may never be economically viable. It is also yet to be proven that climate damaging carbon dioxide emissions can be stored safely underground.”

“It is critical that the UK government provides a guarantee that if the gamble fails we won’t be left with massively polluting plants.”

Power companies must now recognise that new coal fired power stations cannot go ahead without being full CCS from the start, otherwise there will be no guarantee they will be cost effective by 2025.

ENDS

To organise an interview or for more information, please contact...

The G20 outcome is ‘a bitter pill to swallow’ for the world’s poorest people says the World Development Movement, the anti-poverty group that was banned at last minute from attending the G20 summit. The campaigners are dismayed that the G20 leaders have missed an historic opportunity to launch a global recovery plan that will benefit poor people and tackle the climate crisis.

Julian Oram, head of policy at the World Development Movement said:

“For the world’s poorest people the outcome of the summit is a bitter pill to swallow, as they are being hit hardest by the economic and climate crises. What is needed from the G20 is a radical shake up of the global economy, what we got was world leaders desperately rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking Titanic. The commitments to stay on course to meet the Millennium Development Goals and to provide emergency funding for poor countries are welcome. But what was missing was a global green new deal that puts the interests of poor people and the environment at the heart of international trade and finance."

On the issue of free trade and a push for a deal at the WTO, Julian Oram, remarked:

"The G20 are absolutely right that trade is important to developing countries, but they...

A new movement was born on 28 March 2009, with the World Development Movement at its heart, as over 35,000 people marched through London calling for a fundamental change in the world economy to deliver decent jobs and public services for all, an end to global poverty, and a green economy.

Read the Put People First policy demands

At a rally in Hyde Park, they were addressed by Global Call to Action against Poverty co-chair Kumi Naidoo, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber, actor and activist Tony Robinson, environmentalist Tony Juniper and trade campaigner Mary Lou Malig among others. They heard international calls for action to deliver tax justice, trade justice, a Green New Deal in both rich and poor countries, and for democratically accountable governments, banks and international financial institutions to deliver it.

Members of Put People First - an unprecedented alliance of more than 150 unions, development, faith and environment groups,] - are united in calling on the G20 leaders to recognise that only just, fair and sustainable policies can lead the world out of recession,...

The World Development Movement slammed a UK government plan to put almost £400 million of 'green' aid designed to assist developing countries low carbon development into a World Bank fund that will subsidise new dirty coal power plants.

The £400 million represents almost half of the UK’s Environmental Transformation Fund – Gordon Brown’s flagship £800 million fund to assist developing countries to deal with the impacts of climate change and develop low carbon economies.

Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

"This UK government money is supposedly specifically designed to help developing countries make the transition to low carbon economies. It's an absolute disgrace that it will actually be used for building new coal power stations. This money will actually contribute significantly to climate change, rather than do anything to prevent it. This is embarrassing for the UK government; but is incredibly worrying news for the world's poorest people who will be hit hardest by climate change. They expect the UK to play a leading role in the fight against climate change both at home and through its funding.

"Every pound of this 'green' aid that will be spent on funding coal power through the World Bank is money...

A huge new platform of unions, development agencies, faith and environmental groups plans to tell world leaders attending the G20 summit in April that only just, fair and sustainable policies can lead the world out of recession.

The alliance, which includes the TUC, Oxfam, ActionAid, Friends of the Earth and CAFOD, is calling on people to join a major demonstration for jobs, justice and climate in London on Saturday 28 March, five days before the summit.

Under the banner "Put People First – March for Jobs, Justice and Climate", the groups will demand decent jobs and public services for all, an end to global poverty and inequality, and a green economy.

The march will assemble on the Embankment en route to Hyde Park for a rally to be addressed by speakers and celebrities from the UK and around the world.

The organisations backing "Put People First" say: "Recession must not be an excuse for putting off action for global justice or to stop climate chaos. The only sustainable way to rebuild the global economy is to create a fair distribution of wealth that provides decent jobs and public services for all, ends global inequality and builds a low carbon future."

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
"People are angry at the...

WDM’s submission to the Transport Committee’s inquiry into the future of aviation. This focuses on the points: The UK must reduce its emissions; There is slow progress in doing so; Aviation makes-up 10 per cent of the UK’s contribution to climate change; Projections for growth in aviation emissions make it extremely difficult for the UK to meet its emissions targets; Expansion of aviation requires reductions in emissions from all other sectors, for which there are no plans or policies; Predictions of efficiency improvements are very optimistic; Flying is an activity dominated by the Rich; There is no social justice reason to treat aviation as a special case; Including aviation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will do little to reduce emissions; Including aviation in the EU ETS will not ensure the UK meets its emissions targets; The global warming costs of aviation will hit poor people across the world the hardest; Equating the global warming costs of aviation solely with economic costs of climate change is unjust.
 

Flights from the new third runway at Heathrow will produce the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as Kenya every year according to figures from the World Development Movement.

Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

“The government says it is serious about tackling climate change; but in the same breath, they give the thumbs up to a new runway at Heathrow. This is a real let down and shows the government up to be all mouth and no trousers when it comes to climate change. The government is relinquishing any claim to credibility or leadership on action against climate change. They talk tough, but aren't delivering. The government is blaming the economic crisis for their decision but they are forgetting that there is a climate crisis that needs urgent action.

“The number of flights leaving Heathrow will nearly double as a result of this expansion, creating a huge increase in climate damaging emissions. The fact that flights from the new runway will emit the same annual amount of carbon as Kenya is appalling, as the country has a population of nearly 40 million people. The injustice is that most people in the developing world have a tiny carbon footprint, but they will be hit worst by climate change.

“The...

Carbon Evictions presents evidence that our reliance on dirty and outmoded forms of economic growth, including ever expanding air traffic and coal-fired power plants, is posing the threat of worldwide evictions. It is the world’s poor who are most vulnerable to displacement from climate-related disasters. In this report, WDM argues that action now to create a low-carbon economy in the UK could prevent millions of future ‘climate refugees’. Carbon Evictions also calls for a new international agreement within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, to set out the obligations of rich countries towards climate refugees; including enabling those who are forced to migrate due to climatic disasters to resettle in their territories.

The climate bill has now gone through parliament. This briefing takes a look at the state of play in the climate bill as of August, 2008, examining the various targets and pledges and outlining their likely consequences.

The UK government’s climate change bill does not currently include most greenhouse gas emissions from UK aviation. It also allows reduction targets to be met by buying carbon credits. WDM calls on the UK government to include international aviation emissions in the bill’s reduction targets. We also call on the government to make the targets for the climate change bill only apply to emission reductions in the UK, rather than through buying carbon credits from abroad. Unless these two loopholes are closed, the climate change bill will not set a framework for creating a low carbon economy in the UK.

Climate change is increasingly seen as the biggest challenge facing humanity. We will all be affected by it, but it is many of the poorest countries in the world who will be affected most. This briefing looks at the disastrous impact climate change may have on Muslim majority countries including Bangladesh, Senegal, Mauritania and Pakistan.
 

Climate change is a justice issue. It has overwhelmingly been caused by the richest countries and people in the world, yet it is the poorest who will suffer first and suffer most from its effects. WDM welcomes the Conservative party’s acknowledgment that the growth in emissions from UK aviation has to be reduced, and the important role of taxation in achieving this goal. WDM urges the Conservative party to adopt the following policies: Include all aviation CO2 and non-CO2 emissions within the climate change bill; Scrap plans for airport expansion; Introduce a fuel tax on all domestic UK flights; Introduce a tax on flights on all UK international flights.

Climate change is a justice issue. It has overwhelmingly been caused by the richest, yet the poorest will suffer most from its effects. The UK government is committed to preventing average global temperatures rising more than 2°C on pre-industrial levels. This memorandum looks at the impact on this of including aviation emissions into the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), and raises the following issues: The cap on aviation emissions needs strengthening to ensure a fair relationship between aviation and other sectors included in the ETS; 100 per cent of allowances need to be allocated through auctioning; the non CO2 impacts of aviation must be included; all emissions reductions must be within the EU; there should be no mechanism to use project credits from Joint Implementation or the Clean Development Mechanism.

The UK government is now presenting itself as the world leader on climate change, but it is failing to take the action needed in a whole range of areas, of which flying is the most blatant. Aviation makes up 10–15 per cent of the UK’s contribution to climate change, and is our fastest growing source of emissions. Yet the Department of Transport is planning for a doubling of air travel between 2002 and 2020, which would more than cancel out the reductions expected from all other sectors. WDM urges the government to stop further growth in emissions from UK aviation - the key litmus test of its commitment to tackling climate change.
 

This report looks at the aviation sector’s contribution to climate change. In 2005, aviation accounted for 6.3 per cent of the UK’s CO2 emissions. Given the extra warming effects of non-CO2 emissions from aviation, aviation’s share of the UK’s contribution to climate change is higher still. It is predicted that CO2 emissions from UK aviation will more than double by 2030 and treble by 2050. The UK government is committed to limiting the increase in global temperatures to 2°C on pre-industrial levels. A 50 per cent chance of achieving this requires a global emissions cut of 70 per cent by 2050 and 75 per cent by 2100. Given the UK’s per capita emissions, a cut of 85-90 per cent by 2050 is needed. This is impossible at the current rate of aviation growth. Government action on aviation should therefore be a critical part of the battle against climate change.
 

The World Development Movement (WDM) has been highlighting the impact of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) on democracy for many years. This toolkit can be seen as the latest step in the evolution of this work; an attempt to provide some ideas and examples concerning how legislators can take action to improve their oversight of policy-making in an environment where the IFIs have significant influence. This document is aimed at both legislators and those who work with them. In doing so, it attempts to span a range of issues meaning some sections will cover ground already familiar to some of this audience. As the name suggests however, the toolkit is designed so that sections can be picked out if they are relevant or useful to the reader without having to look at other parts of the document.