For the first time in 30 years, the governing body that runs the United Nations climate talks was finally forced to take the first step to begin to expose and address Big Polluters’ obstruction in global climate policy. Beginning with registration for the next round of climate talks happening in November in Dubai, all participants will be required to publicly disclose who they represent before being allowed to attend the talks. This list of disclosures will be made public for scrutiny, and will hopefully be the first step of many towards broader accountability.
This was a direct result of the organizing we help lead with the support of members like you, the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition and civil society constituencies, and our organizing involving the media, decision-makers, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the body that runs the global climate talks.
This means that finally, the world will know exactly who is at the table shaping the global response to climate change, and one major loophole that allowed Big Polluters to enter negotiations unnoticed, incognito, or anonymously is now closed.
The power you helped bring to bear on this campaign has finally pushed the UN to a tipping point where it is now being forced to reckon with the polluting corporate interests that roam its halls and orchestrate climate action’s failure. And it’s only happening because of years of sustained, strategic organizing in close partnership with allies who are part of the Kick Big Polluters Out campaign.
Let’s be super clear — this victory, though long overdue and hard-won, is only the very first step towards fully kicking Big Polluters out and being able to advance the people-centered solutions to the climate crisis we need. The struggle is far from over, and we know this.
But we also know we are now one step closer to justice. Most importantly, together with allies, we have shifted the public and political climate and built the power necessary to make it impossible for the UN climate talks to ignore the problem any longer. This is a game-changing shift in the politics of global climate action.
And we certainly aren’t stopping with this victory. Right as this unprecedented policy was announced, we were already hatching plans with our partners to keep the pressure on to go further to kick Big Polluters out of climate policy so that we can enact the just solutions to the climate crisis we so desperately need. We joined a movement-wide call to action called the Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels — Fast, Fair, and Forever. As the next major escalation, there will be a series of escalating actions over the coming months culminating in a people’s March September 15-17 during the New York City meeting of the UN General Assembly. Learn more and take action.
As we continue on the road to the next round of climate talks in Dubai later this year, we are not blind to the abuses of power that surround us. Yet to us and the many allies and activists involved in this movement, this victory is a demonstration of what becomes possible when we link arms and refuse to be divided, and when we refuse to give in to hopelessness or despair.
