25th June 2010

June 25th

National Demonstration against Agrofuels

Saturday 25th September

At the site of the proposed new palm-oil burning, agrofuel power station at Portland in Dorset.

Transport will be organised from London and possibly other places. If you are interested in joining the coach from London (to Portland for the day) please contact stopagrofuels@campaigncc.org

The application for an agrofuel power station in Portland was approved in January (after the initial rejection was overturned on appeal by the company making the proposal, W4B). The power station will burn palm oil and increase by one third the volume of palm oil currently being imported to this country for energy usage. See more here.

Make a stand against the madness of agrofuel use, wholesale destruction of the rainforest and spiralling emissions!

Put the date in your diary now! More details to be announced soon.

Sheffield Million Climate Jobs Campaign Launch

Tuesday 29th June 7.30pm in Sheffield

At St Matthew’s Hall, Carver Street S1. Organised by Sheffield Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union Group.

The new government promises huge cuts in jobs and services but we need a massive investment in climate jobs to avert the threat of catastrophic climate change – and at the same time targeted spending can lift us out of the present recession.

This is one of several meetings planned around the country on “A Million Climate Jobs” - info on upcoming meetings will follow in further newsletters.

Action for the Climate Emergency

Public Meeting in Friends House, Euston Road, London on Saturday 30th October, 2.00 pm to 9.00 pm

What do we need to do to address the Climate Emergency – how can we make Zero carbon Britain a reality, and how fast?

The meeting will address:

Climate Science – just how fast is the climate crisis unravelling, whats the latest evidence?
What do we need to do - Emissions cuts targets – 10% in one year, Zero carbon by 2030?
Green Energy Revolution, the path to zero carbon
A Million Climate Jobs, Just transtion
Aviation – ending domestic flights and a progressive agenda on this iconic issue
Agrofuels, the fight against counter-productive ‘false solutions’ and maintaining ecosystems
Climate justice, the UK’s role and responsibilities in the global struggle for effective action and climate justice

We will aim to build an effective challenge to the status quo (and the government) on climate change and take this to the demonstration on 4th December marking the Cancun Talks in December.

Hands Across the Sand

This Saturday 26th June, handsacrossthesand.com is hosting Day of Action to say no to off-shore drilling and yes to renewable energy. In London, there will be an event held in St James Park, meeting on the only bridge in the park (called 'The Blue Bridge'). Nearest tube station: St James Park. Meet at 11am, join hands at 12pm. A walk will take place afterwards in the local area between the Houses of Parliament and BP headquarters. There are other events taking place across the world, to find your nearest event go to handsacrossthesand.com/international.php

ONLINE ACTION

Biofuel power stations in Yorkshire and Lancashire

Rocpower are planning to build at least six biofuel power stations in Yorkshire and Lancashire, with a total generating capacity of 60MW. Rocpower's total fuel consumption across the six planned sites is likely to be at least 150,000 tonnes per year. Write a letter of objection to Leeds City Council
www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/leedsjun2010.php

CLAIRE JAMES ON CLIMATE POLITICS

Bonn Climate Negotiations

The recent UN climate talks in in Bonn have at least moved on from the fiasco at Copenhagen. However, the draft text that emerged at the end of the talks is still seriously flawed. Developing nations in the Group of 77 and China described it as 'unbalanced'. The text calls for global emission reductions of 50-85% by 2050 (without expressing a base year), and emission reductions by developed countries of 25-40% by 2020 and 80-95% by 2050 from 1990 levels.

The text is largely based on the Copenhagen Accord, with its focus on voluntary pledges. It does not refer to any requirement for developed countries to list their emissions pledges within a legally binding compliance mechanism like the Kyoto Protocol. So far, individual pledges from rich countries pledges to cut emissions have been nowhere near enough to avoid catastrophic climate change. It delays the peaking year for global emissions (i.e. from 2015 to 2020), while requiring developing countries to peak their emissions in 2020. This would force them to move rapidly away from fossil fuels in just a few years. References to equity and burden sharing have been removed from the section on the shared vision for future climate action.

Meanwhile, the text is still too ambitious for the the US, which said some elements were 'unacceptable'. The US has so far only pledged to cut its emissions 17% by 2020 on 2005 emission levels. A poll of delegates' expectations, conducted by the WWF, found that most expected no agreement to be reached before December 2011 in South Africa at the earliest.

Further analysis

www.foe.co.uk/news/bonn_climate_24236.html

Media reaction

tcktcktck.org/stories/campaign-stories/bonn-climate-talks-according-media

G8/G20 in Toronto

The Canadian Prime Minister has finally agreed to put climate change on the agenda for G8 and G20 meetings this week, after pressure from world leaders and civil society. www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-put-climate-change-on-g8-agenda-after-pressure-from-world-leaders/article1603818/

But news has emerged that heads of state are poised to water down a commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.

tcktcktck.org/stories/fresh-air-center-bonn/economic-summit-poised-weaken-moves-against-fossil-fuel-subsidies

CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE NEWS

Science