Despite pressure from campaigners, which was strongly felt within the negotiation, the 'usual suspects' delay, yet again, the commitment to cut down carbon emission in shipping. The decision whether to regulate ships speed is on hold until next year. Read more here
At the UN International Maritime Organization negotiations behind closed doors about global shipping emissions were opened up to the voice of the youth climate strike movement! The video above includes some of Noga Levy-Rapoport’s speech as delivered to delegates, with clips of protest actions outside. Text of Noga's speech below.
Every one of the delegates from around the world also received a gift of a paper boat made by children with a message asking them to act on the climate emergency. Most came from local children but we also received boats from as far away as Bali, and young people in Fiji sent a solidarity message (pictures below)
The NEU teaching union has voted to stand in "full solidarity" with those who have been taking part in global protests, and called for a Just Transition.
Full text of motion with amendments included below.
Conference recognises that the latest UN climate report shows that:
1. Without more rapid action, there will be at least a 3 degrees temperature rise by 2100;
2. 1 degree rise above pre-industrial levels has already led to increasing fires, hurricanes, floods and droughts;
3. The transition to a zero-carbon society to keep below a 1.5 degree increase is the most urgent problem facing humanity and is technically feasible; and
From blocking five major London bridges last November, Extinction Rebellion are scaling up with plans for major disruption in the capital for a fortnight from 15 April. Participants are invited to bring tents to camp out in Parliament Square and other locations.
The Friday before the action, April 12th, will be the UK's third national school strike. During the fortnight there are expected to be actions in several major cities where Extinction Rebellion is active - it's billed as 'International Rebellion'.
Find your local strike here. Adults are invited to come along to show support - do read this guide produced by the school strike organisers about how adults can best support them on the day and in other ways.
Please support if you can the crowdfunder to help cover costs for this ongoing movement.
24 May; Another massive global strike by school and college students.
12 April: Young people take to the streets again in their thousands.
A series of very lively, very vocal protests with a particular focus on getting the government to adopt a Green New Deal. The youth strikers in the UK have looked across the Atlantic, where the Sunrise Movement, led by young adults, has propelled the Green New Deal into a serious political bid to tackle the climate emergency.
15 March: around 1.5 million turn out around the world to protest climate inaction.
The protests swept across the globe in at least 100 countries - from Australia, where 150,000 defied a government ruled by the coal industry, across Asia, Africa and to Europe, where city squares and streets were packed in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, in the UK (the video below shows the passion, commitment and energy at the London protest) and on to North and South America.
With the legal challenge to Heathrow's third runway still ongoing, and Gatwick wanting to expand its operations by stealth, other airports are also eyeing up increased profits without regard to climate damage.
The latest is Bristol.
Bristol airport currently has 8 million passengers a year. It is already planning to increase to 10 million and the current planning application is aiming to increase further, to 12 million by 2026. Although not part of the current application they are clear that eventually, they would like to increase to 20 million passengers every year.
By increasing from 8 to 12 million passengers, the figures they have submitted show the airport's 'operational emissions' increasing by two-thirds, from 945ktCO2/year in 2017 to 1,568ktCO2/year in 2026.
Extraordinarily, this is more than the total CO2 emitted from all other transport, homes, and industry in North Somerset local authority in 2016 (1,211ktCO2) and almost as much as the 1,633kt from the City of Bristol (source).
However, the Environmental Statement for the planning application describes these emissions as 'not significant'.
The deadline to ask the council to reject planning permission for expansion is Saturday 26 January.
If you sign the 38 Degrees petition, it then takes you automatically to a link to submit an objection to the planning application. You can also comment here (search for 18/P/5118/OUT, then click 'Make a Comment').
The news from the UN climate talks in Poland, COP24, has generally been disheartening. The US, Russian, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait blocked a statement that the conference 'welcomed' the IPCC's research into the impacts of exceeding 1.5C warming. The Polish hosts have chosen fossil fuel companies to sponsor the talks. They have been accused of silencing civil society voices and of arguing on the world stage for a just transition that they are not prepared to implement at home.
But discussions about Just Transition and the role of unions have never been more central. Philip Pearson reports from Katowice below, on behalf of the Greener Jobs Alliance - there is further information in their latest newsletter.
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Led by the Polish Presidency, the United Nations adopted the Just Transition Declaration at the opening of this two-week climate change conference. It’s a remarkable turnaround for us, getting Just Transition demands into the mainstream debates here. But, the declaration is not legally binding on governments, though as Allison Tate of the ITUC told over 100 union delegates here in Poland, the ‘highly political’ statement will oblige governments to up their game and consult with unions on national climate strategies they are now bound to develop. ‘Our task is to hold governments to this commitment, today, tomorrow and every day that follows.’
Significantly, international bodies representing employers and local government have swung their weight behind the UN Just Transition Declaration.
A business guest speaker at the ITUC strategy day (8 December), Peter Glynn from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), said his organisation supported the declaration, the first time it had mentioned labour issues in its work on climate change. When pressed to explain that ‘labour market reforms’ were needed to help deliver massive new investment, he said that workplaces will only be able to adapt to low carbon technologies when the workforce is adequately equipped. This meant massive programmes creating jobs and new skills, with ‘effective planning involving employers, unions and national institutions.’
Delegates pointed out that the right to organise and collective bargaining were essential to a fair and Just Transition, and asked Glynn to take these messages back to the ICC.
The local governments’ statement on Just Transition is available here.
Update: the sentences of all three men have been quashed on appeal as 'manifestly excessive'
Trade union members open letter
As trade unionists, we the undersigned, stand in solidarity with the four non-violent anti-fracking activists who have been convicted of 'causing a public nuisance', three of whom are now serving custodial sentences. We strongly condemn this judgement and the dangerous precedent it sets for the right to protest and take non-violent direct action against threats to the climate and the environment.
These are by far the longest prison sentences imposed on activists defending the environment since those jailed for the Mass Trespass in 1932. It can only be seen as politically motivated in support of a government that has shown it is prepared to ride roughshod over the democratic rights of citizens to achieve an end for which it has no popular support.
This is a clear example of the state acting in the interests of big business in the face of opposition to fracking by the community at Preston New Road, and across the UK more widely. It is important to recall the concerns raised by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association and Assembly in his report in 2016 regarding the "collusion between law enforcement authorities and private companies" in relation to fracking protests.
At the TUC Congress in 2018, the trade union movement called for a moratorium on fracking in England which has already been stopped in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Many of us believe it should be banned in full. There is no safe fracking. It is not safe for the environment, water supplies, citizens or workers, or in addressing climate change concerns.
A motion passed at Trades Union Congress carries the risk of moving backwards from last year's progress on climate policy (2017 climate motion).
The Campaign against Climate Change is deeply concerned about elements of the GMB motion on 'Just transition and energy workers' voice'.
Climate change is first and foremost a social justice issue. It will have consequences for every one of us, and hits the poorest first and hardest. The TUC therefore has the responsibility to reflect the voices of all its members in forming energy and climate policies. Future jobs in solar, wind and energy efficiency are crucial to our economy and these sectors have been badly affected by government cuts. The TUC must be a voice for them too, and call for urgent investment in climate jobs, not locking us into white elephant infrastructure such as new gas power stations. Energy unions of course have an important perspective but the suggestion that their views should be 'paramount and central' in determining TUC policy risks undermining strong climate action.
Labour has said that Heathrow expansion does not meet their 'four tests' - but will allow MPs a free vote. SNP MPs could also tip the vote. The Committee on Climate Change have written a letter warning the government that aviation emissions must not be allowed to grow above the limit that was planned for, and expressing surprise that the transport minister's statement about Heathrow did not even mention climate change.
Please email your MP today (whatever party they belong to) about the importance of this vote.
For information, it may be easiest to copy and paste the text below, but do introduce it with a few words about why this is important to you. What may seem to be a lot of technical details underly a huge issue of social justice and betrayal of future generations.
