Media briefing on Thursday 17 December 2009 on the bad deal being proposed by rich countries in the climate change negotiations, and the aggressive way they are trying to secure such a deal.
Climate debt news
Climate justice
World Development Movement response to Prime Minister speech
Commenting on the speech by Prime Minister Gordon Brown at COP15, World Development Movement Policy Officer Tim Jones said:
“Gordon Brown was strong on rhetoric but weak on substance. The Prime Minister called for the strongest level of ambition, yet did not increase the UK’s current feeble target for reducing its own emissions. A call for money was made, but the Prime Minister failed to say the UK is giving just £500 million a year, much of which was first announced in 2007. Almost all of this is loans, further increasing the unjust debts of developing countries.
“Talks in Copenhagen are stalled because rich countries are failing to make serious commitments to reduce emissions. Offers of money are small amounts to try and secure an unjust deal, rather than the real reparations needed for countries affected by climate change. The Prime Minister failed to play his part in unblocking these talks.”
ENDS
Tim Jones is inside the Bella Centre and can be contacted on +44 7817 6281962
Voices silenced in Denmark - take action now
The Danish government is trying to silence voices calling for climate justice in Copenhagen. Protesters have suffered from police brutality, tear gas and indiscriminate arrests. Delegates have been refused entry en masse, keeping climate justice voices away from governments and the media. The Danish Prime Minister is trying to force an unjust and ineffective agreement on developing countries, outside of the transparent process. We need you to take action now to hold Denmark to account for its actions.
1) Email the Danish Embassy to express your outrage at their handling of negotiations - lonamb@um.dk
2) There will be a protest at 16:00 today (Thursday 17 December) at the Danish Embassy in London, 55 Sloane Street, London, SW1X 9SR. Please be there if you can.
3) The negotiations in Copenhagen are stalled because rich countries are refusing to take any significant action to cut their emissions. Please call radio phone ins, and leave comments on websites, pointing out that:
The EU has offered to cut its own emissions by just 10 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020*
The US has not offered to cut its...
In Copenhagen on Wednesday thousands of protestors marched to the Bella Centre where the climate change negotiations are taking place. At the same time, hundreds of delegates walked out to meet them to create a 'People's Assembly' to discuss positive solutions to climate change. The protestors were met with violence from the Danish police.
World Development Movement policy officer Tim Jones commented from within the Bella Centre:
“Today thousands of people sought to create a people’s assembly to get voices heard offering real solutions to the climate crisis. The people’s assembly was stopped by police who committed unprovoked violence on both protestors and official delegates to the UN negotiations. This is a moment in history where the right to protest is of vital importance. The threat that we are facing from climate change is overwhelming.”
At the same time as the protests, the Danish government was seeking to push an unjust and ineffective agreement on developing countries, outside of the transparent process. The reintroduction of a so-called ‘Danish text’ would override all the official negotiations, kill the Kyoto protocol and release rich countries from their...
Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, Voice Bangladesh, writes from Copenhagen
There was snow, cold and wind in Copenhagen. But the warmth of Reclaiming People’s Power lead a few thousand activists from around the world to gather in different blocks and rally towards the Bella Centre where world leaders are in mock climate negotiations.
The activists called for climate justice, democracy and people’s sovereign power to end the false solutions to climate change proposed by leaders of rich countries.
We had the warm hearts of creative and imaginative leaders and activists from the South and the North demanding justice, surrounded by hundreds of police. But the police used brutal action on the activists.
Can it be a democratic regime where people’s voices are not heard and considered? How can we trust those in power when people are blocked, beaten, tear-gassed, arrested and abused? It was unjustified intolerance to democracy. The Danish police action resembles the inhuman and undemocratic behaviour of the Danish government in the climate negotiations.
As the police gathered around I was separated from my colleagues in Jubilee South. Suddenly I got a push from the police and escaped from their brutal hands and stood aside. I gave an interview to a Danish...
David Johnstone, WDM south-west London group member, writes from Copenhagen
You can't walk far in Copenhagen without being reminded that the conference is in town. Virtually every billboard makes a claim of environmental virtue.
At Norreport Station, one of the city's main transport interchanges, advertisements for Danish wind energy company Vestas plastered all over the walls proclaim them the planet's saviours. The workers laid off when they closed their factory on the Isle of Wight earlier this year may be able to give a fuller picture.
Around every corner there's a climate-themed art work of dubious merit, a rock concert, or a film crew asking you for your 'message of hope' as a citizen of 'Hopenhagen'. As a campaigning veteran of 'Make Poverty History' and Live 8, I'm suspicious of any campaign involving rock stars and you often don't have to look far to spot a corporate logo. The message about the global injustice of climate change is not always so easy to find, though.
We received our clearest picture of what's happening at the Bella Centre, not in the newspapers or public squares of Copenhagen, but 30 km out of...
Tim Jones, used to be policy officer, writes from Copenhagen
On Monday our climate debt invoice was confiscated inside the negotiations for being ‘too political’. This seemed odd; a politics Geiger counter would explode if it were in the Danish capital. We concluded it was less a case of ‘too political’ than too ‘the wrong kind of political’.
To be more in tune with those in power, we decided to get on message on Tuesday. As negotiators moved from room to room we offered them some World Development Movement carbon cake.
Our ‘carbon cake’ could only be eaten by those who had already consumed too much; rich countries. Meanwhile delegates from developing countries were turned away.
Kirsty’s voice echoed through the halls: “Roll up roll up, get your carbon cake here. The cake for those who’ve already had too much.” Delegates from North America and Europe scoffed themselves on our high-fat, high-sugar Danish treats. When they looked embarrassed at their good fortune we reassured them: “Don’t worry about the shame, give someone else the blame.”
Those from developing countries had a look of bafflement and anger when we refused to let them share in the cake treats. Telling them “If you don’t get justice inside the talks, you don’t get it outside the...
Rich countries blocking talks
Various sources are reporting that developing countries are blocking negotiations in Copenhagen. This is not true. The first task for negotiations in Copenhagen was for rich countries to make new commitments under the Kyoto protocol for reducing emissions. They are not doing so, they are killing the talks. We need you to take action now. Email Gordon Brown by clicking here and selecting ‘Contact the Prime Minister’. Copy and paste the bullet points below or write in your own words.
As one African negotiator has said: “We cannot, we can never accept the killing of the Kyoto protocol. It will mean the killing of Africa."
So far the EU has offered to cut its own emissions by just 10 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020, and has hinted it wants Kyoto ended. Japan has refused to make any commitments under Kyoto. Australia and New Zealand are refusing to make any commitments until they get further loopholes involving tree planting. The US still refuses to join Kyoto, and its emission reduction offer allows emissions to be higher in 2020 than 1990.
At the same time, civil society is being shut out of the talks. Thousands are being denied access...
On Monday, WDM joined climate debt campaigners from across the world to call for the rich world to repay its climate debt. People from Nepal, Indonesia, Brazil, the Philippines, Argentina, Ecuador and Nigeria gathered outside the Bella Centre, where the UN talks are being hosted. WDM South-west London and South Lakes also joined in.
The debt must be repaid in a way that doesn’t reinforce existing inequality, or go through undemocratic organisations like the World Bank. Climate debt is not only about reparations for the damage already done, but also about massive cuts in emissions, and sharing solutions instead of creating new markets of out the atmosphere. As one person said “The World Bank have already done too much wrong to the south, how can we trust them?”
The energy was amazing, “Pay up pay up pay up, pay up the climate debt” the crowd chanted, louder and louder, as the snow fell around Jubilee South’s giant masks that were representing the EU and the US, surrounded by a multitude of flags...
Kate Blagojevic, used to be press officer, writes from Copenhagen
There is outrage in Copenhagen over a lot of different issues that include tar sands; climate finance; the World Bank; coal; nuclear; carbon trading and the very imminent plight of the small island states. There are of course a lot of sensitivities, politics and high feeling amongst the thousands of people from all over the world who have recently descended on this small city for an intense two weeks of negotiations.
The Danish organisers have committed several faux pas already of course, with the leaked draft text that caused uproar and upset. But it appears that even in an attempt to decorate this vast, maze like conference centre, more international anger has been sparked.
On the giant inflatable globe in the middle of the centre, the small island states of the Cook Islands and Pacific Islands are nowhere to be seen. To be clear this is not a futuristic scenario that the globe is supposed to be highlighting. More embarrassingly, it appears that they have been forgotten. In an international meeting, to forget to include these islands which are imminently threatened by sea level rises is causing a diplomatic problem that will not be easily solved.
Delegates and civil...
Vicki Lesley, WDM south-west London group, writes from Copenhagen
After an enjoyably civilised rail journey – including an overnight stopover in Cologne, and the unusual experience of the train actually driving on to the ferry for the short sea crossing – we arrived safely in Copenhagen on Friday evening. Despite the chill in the air – Copenhagen in December is definitely as cold as you’d expect! - it was a great feeling to finally be here, in spitting distance of the negotiations, after all those months of vigorous campaigning and anticipation back home.
Whilst hopes of a sufficiently robust and legally-binding agreement now seem somewhat forlorn, there is still everything to play for and as a climate change campaigner, there is simply nowhere else to be this week. WDM is certainly well represented here – along with the Southwest London group, there are also members from North London, Oxford, Bexhill and the South Lakes groups, as well of course as Tim, Kirsty, Kate and Deborah from the office. I’m proud to be here with so many other like-minded campaigners, many of whom I’ve met for the first time in Copenhagen.
Saturday morning dawned...
Tim Jones, former WDM policy officer, writes from Copenhagen
Along the streets of Copenhagen there are happily parked bikes with no locks. With my locked bike stolen a few weeks ago, I am jealous of the bike safety which permeates the Danish capital.
The main news in Copenhagen is from Brussels. Gordon Brown and Nicholas Sarkozy are making the headlines with ‘€2.4 billion [£1.5 billion] a year to help poor countries tackle climate change’.
If you read...
Tim Jones, used to be policy officer, writes from Copenhagen
Off a train. Onto a bus. Into a convention centre with thousands of people. Faces everywhere. Frowning faces, happy faces, confused faces. Lots of confused faces.
Sitting on a green sofa I bump into Dwijen, a friend from a walk we went on a couple of years ago. Dwijen works with communities in Bangladesh already suffering from climate change.
One of the key issues in Copenhagen is ‘short-term finance’; money in the next few years to help developing countries adapt to climate change and cut emissions. For people in Bangladesh, it is vital to get more resources now to deal with the already increasingly devastating floods.
Unfortunately the UK government knows this. Climate secretary Ed Miliband and international development secretary Douglas Alexander were both in Bangladesh in September. ‘Unfortunate’ you say, ‘surely it’s a good thing UK politicians know what is happening in Bangladesh?’
The UK is using the prospect of money now to split developing countries, and force through agreements the UK likes. There’s nothing like desperate need to bring countries into line.
One objective...
Kirsty Wright, WDM climate justice campaigner, writes from Copenhagen
Day three of the official negotiations and things are starting to heat up. The leaking of the Danish text yesterday – which exposes the paltry deal that rich countries were hoping to put on the table – has really shifted the tone in Copenhagen. Along with the outrage, there’s also some relief that, finally, the insulting deal that the rich countries are trying to impose on the negotiations has been exposed. To many in Copenhagen, particularly campaigners from the south who’ve spent years battling rich country governments through the WTO, it’s really no surprise at all. Outrage yes, surprise, no.
By signing up to the framework of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, the rich countries have in theory accepted their historical responsibility, agreeing to lead emissions reductions, to ensure technology transfer and to provide adequate finance for the irreversible damage that is already destroying people’s lives. Of course, what's happening is far from this. Rich country governments are not only completely shirking on their...
We need people to act fast for real results to get a deal with justice at its heart. Already the climate talks have a distinct stench of scandal over the draft documents known as the Danish text, leaked to the Guardian and showing rich countries abandoning any principle of climate justice.
The document was described last night by one senior diplomat as "a very dangerous document for developing countries”. In particular, the text is understood to:
• Force developing countries to agree to specific emission cuts and measures that were not part of the original UN agreement;
• Divide poor countries further by creating a new category of developing countries called "the most vulnerable";
• Weaken the UN's role in handling climate finance, whilst strengthening the role of the World Bank;
• Not allow poor countries to emit more than 1.44 tonnes of carbon per person by 2050, while allowing rich countries to emit 2.67 tonnes;
• Make money to help countries adapt to climate change conditional on them reducing emissions.
This is outrageous and cannot be allowed to happen. We need you to make a noise now.
1) Email Gordon Brown calling on him to distance...
Kirsty Wright, WDM climate justice campaigner, writes from Copenhagen.
Last night I went to the first briefing of Climate Justice Now, a network of campaigners mainly from the global south who are focusing on a just outcome on climate change. The discussion focused on sharing information from around the world on key climate justice issues within the negotiations: climate debt, the World Bank, forests, carbon trading and rich country emission levels.
Having long campaigned for trade justice, the kinds of dirty tactics used by rich governments at international negotiation to twist the arms of the global south shouldn’t come as any surprise, but I still found myself outraged to hear some of the reports from around the world.
Developing countries are facing considerable pressure from rich countries. There’s a lot of confusion around the process, and in spite of requests for clarity, the secretariat are not providing which is massively frustrating for the G77, which have nowhere near the negotiation capacity of rich countries. Rich countries are playing at politics of divide and rule, playing countries off against each other. Recently, the UK stated that rich countries...
We set off early from Lille, where we had been hosted by members of the Confederation Paysanne. We have had an incredibly warm welcome in all the places we’ve stayed, and Lille was no exception. Everyone from the caravan was put up by someone from the Confederation in their home, and we left early on Sunday morning well fed and well rested.
This was just as well, because from Lille we travelled to Brussels where we were being hosted by the Corporate Europe Observatory, an organisation campaigning against corporate lobbying and influence within EU policy. They had an action packed agenda ready for us, and we soon set of for an activist’s tour of Brussels...
Our first stop was the European Commission. The Commission is heavily influenced by corporate lobbyists who have been successful in pushing through aggressive trade agreements and flawed climate policies which favour high carbon industry, intensify the exploitation of natural resources and discriminate against developing countries. The EU’s climate policy is mainly based on carbon trading and other false solutions that benefit big business without tackling climate change.
We were joined there by...
We left Paris for Lille on Sunday morning, having been hosted by the Confederation Paysanne overnight. No sooner had we set off on the bus than Olivier, who has been one of the main organisers of the caravan, announced that we had an emergency on our hands...
One of the climate caravan participants, José Goyes, is part of a movement in Colombia called the Resguardo de Honduras Cauca. He lives in a fertile area in the south of the country, which is rich in vegetation, but also in mineral resources such as gold. This area has recently become the sight of a bitter struggle by the indigenous people whose livelihoods depend on this land, and the multinational corporations who are intent on exploiting it, apparently at any cost.
As I write, Canadian multinationals, and in particular a corporation called Cosigo Resources (Vancouver), are embarking on a programme of mass displacement of indigenous populations in south east Colombia. The Colombian government is supporting these multinationals; in the name of the Colombian government paramilitaries are persecuting and killing local indigenous people who oppose the forceful seizure of their land.
Many of the indigenous leaders, including José Goyes, have been threatened because they oppose the exploration of Cosigo...
The Trade to Climate Caravan
Organised by Klimaforum (www.klimaforum09.org)
From the WTO meetings in Geneva to the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, the Trade to Climate Caravan is taking the social and climate justice message through Europe, direct to the policy makers.
Activists from social and environmental struggles all over the world have come together to tell the politicians, the lobbyists and the multinationals that we demand system change, not climate change. The caravan has brought together campaigers and activists from throughout the global south; people who are suffering directly as a result of unjust and exploitative trade agreements, environmental devastation including destructive 'environmental' mega projects, and the socially reprehensible behaviour of governments as they resort to violence to evict people from their lands and pave the way or multinational corporations and agribusiness.
So, from Colombia to the Congo, the Phillippines to Mexico, Belarus to South Korea, and India to Peru, southern activists have come together in the run up to the UN Climate Summit to demand that the politicians and corporations stop polluting the poor for profit. This blog is devoted to sharing the messages and stories of those on the caravan as I...
Kirsty Wright, WDM’s climate campaigner reports back on a tour around G77 embassies on her way to Copenhagen.
I write this as the train is pulling out of Cologne station. I’m on route to the UN climate talks in Copenhagen. It’s late, and I’m tired, filled with anticipation about what’s to come, and if I’m honest, also exhausted and slightly overwhelmed by the past few weeks.
In the run up to Copenhagen WDM have been working with the Jubilee Debt Campaign and activists all around the UK to make sure the government hears our demand for climate justice. In the process of becoming wealthy through a high carbon development model, the UK along with the rest of the rich world has built up an historic responsibility for causing climate change, and has left little space for the rest of the world to develop in the same way. This means we now owe a massive climate debt to the rest of the world. Over the past few weeks, thousands of people have joined us in sending climate debt invoices to Gordon Brown, along with messages of support to the G77 countries (a group of 130 developing countries negotiating together for a fair outcome in the talks). Yesterday, we delivered these messages.
...
Tim Jones
In Trinidad on Friday Gordon Brown got some headline coverage for his latest announcement of billions of dollars for developing countries to tackle climate change.
The prime minister became as expert as a derivatives trader in repackaging, reselling and reannouncing money when he was chancellor. Unfortunately the latest ‘news’ was no exception.
Mr Brown said rich countries should be creating a ‘Copenhagen launch fund’ worth $10 billion (£6 billion) to help developing countries adapt to climate change and develop in a low carbon way from 2010 to 2012. Let’s not get hung up on that amount as he wasn’t actually saying the UK would write a cheque.
What Gordon Brown did say was that “the UK Government would contribute £800 million in total over three years, which has already been budgeted for”. In fact it was budgeted for in the budget in 2007. The prime minister should know; he was chancellor at the time.
The same £800 million has been reannounced so many times since it’s enough to make you dizzy.
The money cannot go into a ‘Copenhagen launch fund’, because all of it has already been pledged to the World Bank. Some cheques have already been sent, and the final ones are due in April.
The use of the World Bank for climate...
We've had a twitter equivalent of STOP PRESS - apparently Ed Miliband definitely doesn't think it's serious to say 'UK's credibility at Copehnahgen will be shattered by his new coal plant plans.
Ed Miliband is of course at pains to say that we have the world's most environmentally stringent policy, so of course our credibility at Copenhagen will remain intact, pretty much what ever we do. But we, and many others, disagree strongly with that. We have got climate legislation, yes, but unfortunately within the Climate Act, there are loopholes the size of several coal power stations. And that's where our credibility will fall.
The government’s own committee on climate change has said: “there can be no role for conventional coal generation in the UK beyond the early 2020s”. But Ed Miliband’s statement yesterday allows hundreds of megawatts of new conventional coal to be built, and does nothing to ensure old conventional coal plants shut down in the early 2020s.
In our view, and the view of campaigners across the globe, it's just not serious enough to say we've got a tough climate law but we're...
Tim Jones
It's easy to deride twitter as superficial nonsense; yet its reach is staggering and important. WDM uses twitter to alert people to our latest reports, actions and titbits of gossip. But for anyone who saw the last episode of 'The thick of it', you will have seen that what starts in a tweeting tea cup can become much more.
We were pleased to see that the good people of One Climate had retweeted our email to Ed Miliband. The email expresses our disappointment that yesterday he missed the opportunity to rule out new coal and is urging him not to allow unproven carbon capture technology be used as a fig leaf to let in new coal power stations.
Our interested sharpened when we saw that Mr. Miliband himself (or DECC's Head of Twitter) has tweeted and responded saying that the reason he hadn't responded to our emails is because:
We set out most environmentally stringent coal policy of any country in world yesterday. Value serious...
In response to Ed Miliband's energy statement to parliament today, the World Development Movement reacted with disappointment and argued that the UK's credibility at Copenhagen has been 'shattered'.
Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:
"Ed Miliband today has shattered the UK's credibility at the Copenhagen summit by going ahead with disastrous plans for new coal. His decision to allow two new dirty coal power stations to be built will see increasing emissions long into the future. He has acknowledged that carbon capture technology may not work, but nonetheless hasn't introduced a safety net to protect the climate if this unproven technology fails.
"Furthermore, he's done nothing to shut down old coal plants which can continue to pollute for decades to come. This policy flies in the face of recommendations from the government's own climate advisors.
"This will continue to increase our climate debt to the world's poorest people. And in turn, this will lock in greater inequality and injustice faced by people, like those in the Philippines or El Salvador who are currently suffering from climate-change related weather disasters, such as flooding and typhoons."
The World Development Movement condemns rich countries at the Barcelona climate negotiations that ended today for ‘killing Kyoto and Copenhagen’.
The anti-poverty campaigners believe that rich countries are talking down the possibility of legally binding deal at Copenhagen, and at the same time are refusing to make the emissions cuts already agreed as part of the Kyoto protocol. They say that rich countries are taking the uncertainty over the Copenhagen deal as a cynical opportunity to abolish the Kyoto protocol.
Tim Jones, climate policy officer at the World Development Movement said: “The fact that rich countries are trying to wriggle out of their emissions reductions targets under the Kyoto agreement and have essentially quashed any hope for a legally binding and fair deal at Copenhagen is absolutely disgraceful.
"It looks as though they are trying to kill Kyoto and Copenhagen deals. Developing countries are absolutely right to be incredibly angry. Developed countries that have caused climate change are trying to push the burden of tackling and coping with it onto poorer countries. This is unbelievably immoral.
“The extent of the rich world’s climate debt to developing nations is staggering. And if rich countries continue to ignore and...
The UK government comes under fire today in a new report which reveals that the current climate finance proposals, likely to dominate the weekend’s G20 talks, are likely to increase third world debt, and will be 'grossly inadequate' to tackle the scale of the problem.
The report by anti-poverty groups the World Development Movement and Jubilee Debt Campaign calculates that the UK alone owes a 'climate debt' to developing countries of over £17 billion each year for its contribution to climate change – an amount that is significantly more than that pledged so far.
They issued a stark warning that the issue of climate debt will be a 'Copenhagen deal-breaker' for developing countries, and the hope of getting a fair deal hangs in the balance.
The report, 'The Climate Debt Crisis', heavily criticises the UK's current policy of channelling its 'climate aid' through the World Bank, and of promoting the World Bank as the main hub of climate finance. It condemns the World Bank for distributing climate finance as loans, not aid, and for allowing finance to be used for new coal power stations, not low carbon energy investment. The campaigners are...
The Climate Debt Crisis marks a major step in efforts to draw the links between the overuse of the world’s resources, particularly greenhouse gas emissions, and the unjust and economically harmful financial debt foisted upon the world’s poorest countries.
The report explains the concept of ‘climate debt’, and explores how redressing the balance between international ‘debtors’ and ‘creditors’ is an essential prerequisite for effective global action to combat both climate change and poverty. It demonstrates why current attempts to deal with global inequalities in emissions through carbon trading and offsetting are fatally flawed, and sets out concrete proposals to finance climate debt repayments.
The WAVE on 5th December was a huge success. More than 50,000 people in total marched in London, Glasgow and Belfast in support of the demand for a 40 per cent reduction in emissions from industrialised countries by 2020.
Ed Milliband came down to speak to supporters and Gordon Brown invited 24 WAVE supporters to 10 Downing Street to listen to their demands. One of WDM’s supporters was there and he said “I got to ask Ed two questions, although he essentially sidestepped them both, but he generally came across as very positive though, and working hard to drag the political position another step towards reality. He also invited those of us present to meet with him again after Copenhagen - for a sort of progress check - which I look forward to.”
The collective support we showed last week sent a strong message to world leaders that the UK public is dedicated to a low carbon future and we will not accept false solutions, like carbon trading or any attempt to shift the burden of cutting emissions onto developing countries. This is a step in the right direction but the fight’s not over; we must keep the pressure on and keep campaigning for the UK and all rich countries to pay...
This December 7-18 negotiations will take place in Copenhagen in an attempt to reach an international agreement to tackle climate change.
The World Development Movement, along with social movements and governments from the global south, has been calling for the UK and the rest of the rich world to repay its ‘climate debt’ at Copenhagen – the money the rich world owes to the world’s poorest people for causing climate change.
The World Development Movement will be in Copenhagen for the duration of the summit keeping an eye on the negotiations and taking part in events outside the conference centre. We’ll be blogging on this website to keep you updated.
On the 5th December we’ll also be at The Wave in London and Glasgow where tens of thousands of people will demonstrate their support for a safe climate future for all.
Repaying our climate debt at Copenhagen
The UK has grown rich on the back of burning fossil fuels, which has driven us to the point of climate catastrophe. The global south should not have to pay the price of a crisis it didn’t create.
However, rather than...
Tim Jones
Funny old week. You stoically campaign on an issue of life and death for a year, and just when you wonder if anyone really takes the injustice of climate change seriously, three campaign successes come along in the space of a few days.
On Wednesday night I was in Medway at a local meeting against Kingsnorth power station. It was only towards the end of the evening we realised we should have spent the evening down the pub when word came through that E.On have put Kingsnorth on hold. After two years of fantastic campaigning, it was amazing to learn the news while standing alongside the inspiring local campaigners who live within sight of the coal megalith. Campaigners 1, carbon polluters 0.
Our WDM friends in Scotland obviously felt a bit grumpy by our cheeriness south of the border. Yes Kingsnorth was the one application for a new coal power station in the UK. But Danish company Dong have been working hard on an application for a typhoon-strengthening, drought-causing coal burner at Hunterston in Ayshire. Not anymore. Today Dong withdrew their investment, probably pulling the plug on the whole project.
With coal power stations falling quicker than a premiership striker, you might have missed the news story on Heathrow. BAA are reportedly not...
World Development Movement Scotland greeted with delight the news that Danish energy giant Dong Energy has dropped plans to develop a new coal fired power station at Hunterston in Ayrshire, citing financial difficulties and a strategic change of direction towards lower carbon investments.
The remaining investor Peel Holdings appear to want to continue with the project but need a partner who knows something about coal and energy ... and most of those are backing off coal at a rate of knots!
WDM has been campaigning against coal for the last two years. Only last week we welcomed the news that energy giant EON had shelved plans to build a new coal plant at Kingsnorth. Coal is the most polluting way to generate electricity. Globally, it’s a huge contributor to climate change, the effects of which are being felt most acutely by the world’s poorest people.
It’s clearer now more than ever that dirty coal is a risky investment. Energy companies are finding it impossible to justify such climate-trashing developments. Banks that continue to invest heavily in coal – such as Scotland’s RBS – should also beware the writing on the wall, and switch...
Scottish campaigners greeted with delight the news that Danish energy giant Dong Energy has dropped plans to develop new coal fired power stations at Hunterston in Ayrshire, and also in Germany.
The case for new coal fired power stations in Scotland is crumbling after the developer pulled out, citing financial difficulties and a strategic change of direction towards lower carbon investments.
Following Dong’s announcement that it would prioritise investments in renewables, and last week’s news that Eon energy had postponed plans for a coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent, Liz Murray, Head of Scottish Campaigns at World Development Movement commented:
“It’s clearer than ever that dirty coal is a risky investment. Energy companies are finding it impossible to justify such climate-trashing developments. Banks that continue to invest heavily in coal – such as Scotland’s RBS – should also beware the writing on the wall, and switch their investments to support renewable energy instead.”
Friends of the Earth Scotland’s Chief Executive Duncan McLaren added:
“We are delighted that Dong has withdrawn. But dirty coal is more than a bad investment, it’s also bad policy. The Scottish Government must...
Late last night, EON confirmed that they had shelved plans for the controversial Kingsnorth coal plant in Kent. The news of the victory for the 'Stop Kingsnorth' campaigners was received by text at a coal event in Rochester hosted jointly by the World Development Movement and the local campaigning group, Kingsnorth Climate Action Medway, who have been working closely for nearly two years.
Kirsty Wright, climate campaigner at the World Development Movement said:"This is an huge victory for campaigners in Kent, across the UK and most of all for the world’s poorest people, whose lives would have been devastated by the proposed power station’s contribution to climate change. The new power station would have emitted more CO2than Tanzania, and could have caused 20,000 climate refugees and meant that 100, 000 more people losing their dry water season supply.
"It's not yet clear what the government's official reaction to this news will be, but UK's already massive climate debt to the developing world means that the UK must radically reduce its carbon emissions now. The UK government must rule out new coal in the UK straight away, ahead of crucial international talks at Copenhagen. We can’t rely on energy companies to do it because of concern about profits in the...
Late last night, EON confirmed that they had shelved plans for the controversial Kingsnorth coal plant in Kent. The news of the victory spread like wild fire, and the 'Stop Kingsnorth' campaigners received it via text at a coal debate in Rochester, hosted jointly by the World Development Movement and the local campaigning group, KingsnorthClimate Action Medway, who have been working closely for nearly two years.
The official line from E.ON was that the delay is as a result of the recession. But we have been arguing all along that we just don't need new coal power stations in the UK. The recession excuse aside, meeting renewable energy and energy efficiency targets must mean that the 'the lights will go off' rhetoric from E.ON and the government has always been nothing more than a public relations exercise to sell coal power to the public.
We have been campaigning to Stop Kingsnorth because the new power station would have emitted more CO2 than Tanzania, and could have caused 20,000 people to become homeless and meant that 100, 000 more people lost their dry water season supply...
After months of fantastic coal campaigning as part of the Big If campaign, World Development Movement activists joined other organisations in a vigil outside the Department for Energy and Climate Change to mark the end of the government’s consultation on coal, which closed on 9 September.
Ed Miliband was enticed out of his office by the sound of classic anthems as diverse as the Beatles (Let coal be) and Pink Floyd (All in all it's just more CO2 in the air) that had been transformed into coal songs by the ‘disciples of justice’! The crowd stood beneath giant COAL KILLS letters, alongside pictures people had chosen of the things that would be at risk if Kingsnorth went ahead.
Ed Miliband confronted the crowd, who quizzed him on his coal policies. Ed was clearly impressed by the depth of people’s knowledge on the issue.
A huge thanks to all the hundred of supporters who made submissions to the coal consultation. We will keep you updated on upcoming announcements on the UK’s coal policy.
See the coal songs in the songbook below and watch a...
Tim Jones
The Philippines is once again suffering from the impacts of a typhoon. Capital City Manila had the highest rainfall in its history on Saturday as Typhoon Ondoy swept across Luzon Island.
At least 140 people are reported to have died due to flooding so far, with tens of thousands losing their homes. Nathaniel Cruz from the Philippine weather agency said: “This could again be a manifestation of climate change. Due to climate change, we should expect more extreme weather events like extreme rainfall."
Last summer I visited Manila and a province on the eastern coast of Luzon called Albay. Tropical storms are part of life in the Philippines, but scientists have shown that storms and typhoons have already got stronger due to climate change. In Manila I saw the remnants of Typhoon Frank, which overturned a ferry killing 800 people.
Albay is often the worst affected region of the Philippines, lying directly in the path of typhoons coming from the east. When I visited last year, people were still trying to rebuild their homes and lives after Typhoon Reming devastated the region in 2006, killing over 1,000 people.
We are always told no single disaster can be said to be caused by climate change. But that’s not how the people I met in Albay look at...
The World Development Movement was shocked and saddened to hear that Professor Anu Muhammad was one of a number of protestors injured by police during a recent peaceful demonstration in Bangladesh.
Professor Muhammed, who is Secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, was protesting against the decision by the Bangladesh government to grant offshore oil and gas exploration deals in the Bay of Bengal for two international companies, ConocoPhillips and Tullow Oil plc.
Professor Muhammed has long been an opponent of the Phulbari open cast mine in Bangladesh, proposed by UK company Global Coal Management Resources, which would force more than 50,000 people off the land and threaten the water supplies of a further 100,000. Until a recent turnaround, the UK government publicly supported the proposed mine.
The World Development Movement worked closely with Professor Anu Muhammad on the Phulbari campaign and hosted his visit to the UK in December 2008, when he met with MPs, NGOs and the Bangladeshi community to raise...
Historically, the World Bank has been roundly criticised by the World Development Movement and others because of its flawed policies which deepened poverty. Exactly the same critique is as pertinent as ever but relates to its policies on climate change.
In the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, the World Bank was notorious for damaging developing countries' economies by forcing them to adopt economic policies that made people poorer. The institutional problem of flawed analysis that gave the much-maligned institution its poor reputation can still be seen today when examining its policies designed to tackle climate change.
Rightly, the World Bank knows that climate change will devastate poor countries and is already increasing poverty and in its annual World Development Report released today, it called on nations to 'act differently on climate change'.
Also correctly, the World Bank says that the world's reliance on fossil fuels must be broken. But in its typically contradictory style, it is currently funding new dirty coal power stations to be built in the global south through...
Campaigners from RSPB, the World Development Movement, Christian Aid, Oxfam, WWF and Greenpeace will hold a 'coal kills' vigil today outside the Department for Energy and Climate Change on Whitehall.
At 16.30, the organisations' CEOs and campaigners will hold up images of glaciers, polar bears, birds, food and water supplies of the millions of people in the developing world who will lose their lives and livelihoods and a stark message of 'coal kills'. These will represent what the campaigners believe that Climate Minister, Ed Miliband will save if he makes the right decision - to rule out new coal.
The charities are coming together to remind Ed Miliband that he must go further on his policy proposals on coal and provide a cast-iron guarantee that no new dirty coal-fired power stations will be built in the UK unless all of the carbon emissions are captured from the start.
The CEOs will invite Ed Miliband to meet with the groups to hand him personally a statement detailing the thousands of powerful pledges and statements that each organisation has collected from supporters. These include letters from young RSPB members asking Miliband to do more, photos from Christian Aid supporters asking him to reconsider, and promises of thousands of Greenpeace and World...
Today saw the launch of the 10:10 campaign; for individuals and businesses in the UK to reduce their emissions by 10 per cent in 2010. This is matched by a demand for Ed Miliband to commit the UK government to a target of cutting emissions by as close to 10 per cent as possible in the same year.
It would be excellent if UK emissions did fall by 10 per cent next year. As East Africa once again suffers from drought, and latest predictions that climate change is already killing 300,000 people every year, such a cut would be an acknowledgment that dangerous climate change is already with us. We must cut emissions by as much as possible as soon as possible.
The chances of UK emissions falling by 10 per cent looked more likely as we heard that E.ON, along with EDF, Centrica and Scottish and Southern Energy, are joining the campaign. E.ON by itself emits around 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, generating 10 per cent of the UK’s electricity and over 15 per cent of the UK’s emissions from electricity. Presumably E.ON will be shutting down its Kingsnorth coal power station in 2010, five years ahead of schedule, which would meet the 10:10 target and double it to 20 per cent in 2010.
Alas no. E.ON is launching “a nationwide drive to help homeowners and...
This year’s Camp for Climate Action pitched up their tents on Blackheath in London yesterday. There are around 1,000 people there already, with more expected as the weekend gets closer. Along with the workshops and demonstrations of sustainable living, there will also be non-violent direct action during the week, and some climate campers have kicked this off already with an action-cum-street theatre outside the Climate Exchange on Bishopsgate.
One of the key reasons for bringing the Climate Camp to London this year is to challenge the role of the City in creating the climate crisis. The fact that our society is geared towards endless economic growth has resulted in a headlong rush towards global warming. WDM has long argued that redistribution to tackle inequality is the key to ending poverty, rather than unsustainable growth which threatens the planet and fails to ‘lift up the poor’.
Moreover, the obsession with the free market, which has dominated official global politics for the last 30 years, means that politicians are looking to a ‘market mechanism’, carbon...
The World Development Movement is part of the Climate Justice Now! network, which is a southern-led coalition of around 150 organisations and movements campaigning for a globally just and effective solution to the climate crisis.
Climate Justice Now! principles
Communities in the global south as well as low-income communities in the industrialised north have borne the toxic burden of this fossil fuel extraction, transportation and production. Now these communities are facing the worst impacts of climate change - from food shortages to the inundation of whole island nations.
Inside the global climate negotiations, rich industrialised countries have put unjustifiable pressure on southern governments to commit to emissions reductions. At the same time, they have refused to live up to their own legal and moral obligations to radically cut emissions and support developing countries' efforts to reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts.
Climate Justice Now! will work to expose the false solutions to the climate crisis promoted by these...
High up in the news agenda this week has been the Vestas wind turbine factory occupation and RBS' interim profits. Not stories that people automatically assume resonate with the work of the World Development Movement but what ties these, at first glance, disparate strands of news together is climate justice. And that means justice for the workers at Vestas, who are fighting for their jobs; justice for climate-conscious tax payers, who are fighting for their money to be used wisely; and justice for the world's poorest people, who are fighting for their lives.
The workers at Vestas have been putting up a fight not only in attempt to protect their jobs, or better their meager redundancy package, but also because they are proud that they have genuinely green jobs, and know that the UK needs more of these jobs, not fewer.
RBS continues to lend to dirty and destructive energy companies, when it should be contributing to a more sustainable and ethical future for us all. Although last week Ed Miliband announced he would influence RBS to invest in wind power, it's unclear at this stage whether it will happen. But it is clear that our money will be put to the best use by RBS investing in a low carbon future rather than in undemocratic regimes and environmentally...
1 minute to save the world has teamed up with World Development Movement, other NGOs from around the world including Greenpeace, New Economics Foundation and Stop Climate Chaos, and the Guardian newspaper to give you your chance to tell the world about climate change.
1 minute to save the world is an international short film competition which is open to anyone, amateur or professional, who has something they want to say about climate change. The films you make will be distributed around the world and the winning entries will be shown in cinemas at the Copenhagen climate summit in December.
Multinationals and their advertising agencies have long known the power a short film can have. We’ve decided to harness the medium to raise public awareness and pressure governments into meaningful action. It’ll be a truly international competition and festival.
-Jessica Dunlop, festival producer.
Prizes include up to £1000 cash and the judges include leading film makers and climate experts.
For full details see: www....
Thank you for taking action and joining the Big If.
WDM will keep you updated on the latest developments and actions you can take. Please keep doing everything you can until Ed Miliband rules out dirty coal completely.
We've sent a confirmation to the email address you gave us.
Spread the word!
...
The World Development Movement welcomes progress made on renewable targets but fears that the reliance on carbon trading to reduce emissions is a 'dangerous get-out-of-jail-free card'.
Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:
"The commitment to generate 30 per cent of electricity from renewable sources and to reduce emissions in the UK power sector is welcome. But the politics is still lagging behind the science as this target doesn't come close enough to what is needed to prevent dangerous climate change.
"Worryingly the government has said it can use carbon offsetting to meet targets if we fail to cut emissions. This is a dangerous get-out-of-jail-free card which could be disastrous for the climate and for the world's poorest people. The government has to be completely committed to reducing our emissions here in the UK, not pass the buck onto developing countries.
"Ed Miliband's own department has previously acknowledged that we don't need new coal power stations to keep the lights on. So it's contradictory to see his continued claims that we need to build new coal power stations."
ENDS
For more information, please all Kate Blagojevic on 020 7820 4900 / 07711 875 345
Notes to editors
The...
Ed Miliband is today unveiling the Energy White Paper and UK carbon budgets. The World Development Movement is concerned that the UK’s climate change strategy will be heavily reliant on carbon trading and unproven techno-fixes to reduce carbon emissions.
Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:
"What we hope is that Ed Miliband will commit to substantial investment in the renewable energy sector. This will help to create new jobs, reduce our carbon emissions and develop technologies which can be used to tackle climate change across the world. What we fear is that Ed Miliband will have fallen prey to the heavy lobbying from the energy companies who prefer the status quo.
"We are very concerned at reports that the carbon budgets will be very heavily reliant on carbon trading, which is a dodgy, creative accounting technique that reduces our emissions in name only. Carbon trading places the burden on poor countries to reduce their carbon emissions so that we can continue to pollute. This is double counting on an audacious scale and is an incredible injustice.
"Ed Miliband is holding onto the hope that carbon capture technology fitted onto new coal power stations will decarbonise the electricity sector at some...
Today, the World Development Movement condemns the G8 as an illegitimate institution that is making decisions on measures to tackle the climate and financial crises that will have disastrous effects on the world’s poor.
Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:
"The G8 has no legitimacy, but it is making decisions on climate change and trade that will have disastrous effects on the world’s poorest people. This injustice is palpable and the G8 should be left for dead.”
Commenting on the announcement that the WTO deal will be completed next year, Deborah Doane said:
"The global economic crisis will not be fixed by more free trade sealed in a rushed deal at the WTO. The G8’s aim to avoid protectionism through a new WTO round is little more than a smokescreen to protect big business in G8 countries, at the expense of poor people. If our analysis of the financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that over-reliance on free market ideals harms labour, development and environmental standards around the world. Unfair free trade deals aren’t the answer: they are part of the problem.
Commenting on the measures to tackle climate change, Deborah Doane said:
"G8 countries emit 40% of...
New stats showing Kingsnorth's impact on water, food, refugees, drought and death
A new Kingsnorth coal plant could be responsible for 100,000 more people in the developing world losing their water supply in dry seasons reveals the World Development Movement today.
The anti-poverty campaigners have released a catalogue of shocking new statistics that show the devastating human impact that carbon emissions from a new Kingsnorth plant alone could have on people in the developing world because of its contribution to climate change. The World Development Movement reveals:
- 100,000 more people losing their dry season water supply
- Up to 300 more people dying every year due to malnutrition
- Up to 60,000 more people suffering from drought in Africa
- 50,000 more people going hungry due to drought and lower crop yields
- Up to 40,000 more people exposed to malaria
- 20,000 people being forced our of their homes and becoming climate refugees
- Around 30,000 more people losing their homes every year due to coastal flooding
Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:
These figures reveal, for the first time, the devastating human impact of building a new Kingsnorth coal power...
30,000 people could be forced from their homes as climate refugees if the plans for a new coal fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent get the go ahead.
The world’s poorest people will be worst affected, even though they leave smallest carbon footprint.
- On current trends, an estimated 10 million people will be forced to leave their homes permanently by 2050 because of the UK’s contribution to climate change
- The effects that climate change will have on the world include more and worse cyclones; flooding; drought; and sea level rises that will force people to leave their homes
Urgent measures by the UK government could still prevent tens of millions of people from losing their homes. These people have done little to contribute to climate change, but they will suffer the worst consequences. This is a scandal and must be stopped, starting with saying no to new coal and Kingsnorth.
Thousands of people who care about climate change and global poverty, including celebs, bird watchers, cake lovers, grannies and young people from across the UK will form a 'Mili-band' – a human chain around Kingsnorth coal power station - on the 4 July to say no to dirty new coal power stations.
The Women's Institute, Christian Aid, RSPB, the youth organisation – the Woodcraft Folk, Oxfam and the World Development Movement are jointly organising the fun-filled, family and future-friendly event to highlight the human cost of dirty coal and the effect that climate change will have on millions of people in poor countries. After forming the human chain, the celebrity speakers, musicians and games at the Sturdee Social and Sports Centre will provide fun for all the family.
The name of the event is inspired by Ed Miliband, the minister for climate change, who will make the decision about whether to give the Kingsnorth plant the green light.
Kirsty Wright, from the World Development Movement said:
"This day is about having fun but is also about sending an important message to Ed Miliband. He needs to rule out new coal power in the UK unless all the climate-wrecking carbon emissions are captured from the start. He's made good progress...
This page features the latest briefings and reports about our climate change campaign.
Briefings tend to be shorter (2-3 pages), more concise summaries of our campaign policy which are ideal if you want to get up to speed with our campaign quickly.
Reports are longer (30-100 pages) in depth documents which WDM produces to influence policy makers and governments.
If you would like to request paper copies of our materials, please get in touch.
All our materials are provided in PDF format. Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here
Today, UK based anti poverty campaigners, the World Development Movement revealed that over 30 organisations from the developing world have written to Ed Miliband to demand that he bans new coal power, and scraps the controversial plan for a new coal power station at Kingsnorth in Kent.
Murray Benham, head of campaigns at the World Development Movement said:
“Those on the receiving end of the UK’s carbon emissions are appalled at the prospect of new coal power stations being built in the UK. Any international credibility the UK has for putting climate change targets into law will be shot to pieces by another decision in favour of a carbon emitting monster. The World Development Movement has calculated that a new power station at Kingsnorth would by itself create 30,000 climate refugees across the world. Campaigners from the developing world are clear that this is unjust, and Ed Miliband cannot allow it to happen.”
Ricardo Navarro, campaigner from El Salvador said:
“The UK building coal power stations is like eating a slap-up meal and handing the bill to the world’s poor.”
The letter to Ed Miliband, UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has been signed by 34 influential organisations based in 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.
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,
This briefing asks and answers a number of 'tricky questions' about carbon trading. In doing so this briefing is a useful reference and summary of carbon trading and it's potential impact on climate change.
Signup to emails
Get the latest campaign actions, events and news direct to your inbox.
What we've achieved recently
- © World Development Movement
- Privacy policy
- Contact WDM
- Login
2011
The UK government puts £10 million of its climate finance towards the UN Adaptation Fund, and agrees to give the majority of its funds to the World Bank's climate adaptation fund as grants rather than loans.
2010
The Royal Bank of Scotland commits to developing external environmental, social and ethical risk statements and internally implementing similar policies for oil and gas, mining and metals and forestry and defence.
2010
The EU allocates €40 million to support twinning arrangements between public water utilities in poor regions of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific and wealthier European countries.
2009
Following joint campaigning by WDM and other groups and organisations, EON shelves plans for a new coal power station at Kingsnorth in Kent.