Close
December 2, 2019
Climate

Polluters out, people in! Our COP25 journal.

Corporate Accountability’s international team of organizers and experts is on the ground at the COP25 U.N. climate talks in Madrid, Spain, December 2 – 13, 2019.

We’re standing shoulder to shoulder with our climate justice allies from around the world to challenge Big Polluters that are obstructing progress and the Global North governments doing their bidding. Together, we’re organizing to advance the just solutions to address the climate crisis laid out in the People’s Demands for Climate Justice–to build a future where all people can survive and thrive. And we are building on the people power behind the global call to Make Big Polluters Pay for Just Climate Solutions.

Check back here, as well as our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram pages, for regular updates from the climate talks in Madrid.

 

Take the COP25 Toxic Tour

We took the COP25 Toxic Tour this morning with a number of our friends and allies. Scroll down and join us!

 

Five must-read COP25 primers by Demand Climate Justice

The Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice has five excellent articles that give strong insights into the complex issues faced at COP25. Topics include the impacts on the climate justice movement of the change of venue from Chile to Spain, the way governments are trying to wriggle out of their commitments to the Paris Agreement, industry schemes and dangerous distractions, the need for funding for communities on the front lines of climate change, and the foot-dragging of Global North governments in coming up with the needed financing.

 

You tell Global North governments: Time to make big polluters pay!

After 225+ organizations endorsed and with nearly 200,000 signatures collected from 68 countries on six continents, we and our allies delivered the global call to #MakeThemPay petition directly to the delegation offices of the U.S., U.K., and EU.

Watch the press conference.

First delivery was made by FridaysForFuture delegates, pictured here handing the Make Big Polluters Pay petition to the EU delegation.

The petition contingent stopped next at the U.K. delegation to deliver the petition. students from UK Student Climate Network called on the UK to hold corporations accountable and kick Big Polluters out of next year’s COP26 in Glasgow.

And finally at the U.S. delegation (below), where impacted communities from India and Nigeria demanded loss and damage mitigation for affected people, and also demanded the US cuts its ties with the fossil fuel industry. Pictured below is to Corporate Accountability’s Deputy Campaigns Director Sriram Madhusoodanan speaking to a U.S. delegation member, together Vidya Dinker of the Indian Social Action Forum and APMDD (left), and Corporate Accountability team member Keltie Vance (right).

 

“Quite Divorced From Reality”: Climate Scientist, Activists Call Out Shell Exec at UN Conference

Activists held a powerful silent protest at an event staged by fossil fuel executives peddling dangerous market-based industry schemes.

Afterward, climate science professor Simon Lewis of University College London told the assembled oil executives that their schemes simply would not help right the climate crisis. Lewis bluntly told them, “This is quite divorced from reality, what you are all discussing.” Read the article about the event.

 

Experts present a road-map for real climate solutions

On day two of the climate talks, Corporate Accountability and a number of our allies held an event entitled “Real Solutions, Real Zero.” The event, which we co-moderated and presented at, brought together climate justice advocates and global policy experts to explain why industry schemes like carbon markets are a dangerous path and lay out the real, meaningful climate solutions at our fingertips. The eagerness for these real solutions was evidenced by the more than 150 government delegates, press, and other civil society members who packed the room.

Take a look at the English, French, and Spanish versions of our policy brief, which lays out these solutions.

The panel included:

  • Teresa Anderson – ActionAid
  • Riska Darmawanti – Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development
  • Tom Goldtooth – Indigenous Environmental Network
  • Niclas Hällström – What Next Forum (co-moderator)
  • Rachel Rose Jackson – Corporate Accountability (co-moderator)
  • Sivan Kartha – Stockholm Environmental Institute
  • Souparna Lahiri – Global Forest Coalition

Corporate Accountability’s Rachel Rose Jackson (left), speaking as a part of Tuesday’s expert panel on real climate solutions.

 

Changing business as usual on climate

 

The U.N. climate treaty negotiations have kicked off in Madrid. Here’s what you need to know about Corporate Accountability and the 25th Conference of the Parties, or COP 25. (For those new to the ins and outs of the U.N. climate treaty, here’s a good primer on what a COP is.)

While global temperatures continue to rise amidst rampant climate devastation, and while the power of people around the world demanding just and urgent action grows, Big Polluters and the governments advancing their agenda are grasping to keep the status quo. At the same time, they’re using green-washing and marketing to produce a climate-friendly image.

We’re at the climate talks with our allies to change the status quo, to change business as usual. The U.N. climate treaty has the potential to create change at the very highest level. And what happens there—or doesn’t—has an impact on millions of people’s lives around the globe.

That’s why our team is on the ground organizing for real climate solutions and to safeguard against industry market-driven schemes. We’re also continuing the call to kick Big Polluters out and to Make Them Pay for the damage they knowingly caused. And we’re doing all this in close collaboration with allies on the front lines of the climate crisis, respecting their leadership and uplifting the solutions they have been advancing for decades.

For too long Big Polluters, their trade groups, and their mouthpieces, hand-in-hand with Global North governments, have been wielding their influence at U.N. climate treaty negotiations like these. For too long, they’ve caused stagnation and a lack of political will to implement bold climate solutions.

But their time is coming to an end. People’s movements around the world are rising to demand deep change. We’re there to hold Big Polluters accountable so the global community can advance real climate solutions rooted in justice.

Keep your eye on this space over the next two weeks. We’ll post updates and ways that you can take action to amplify what’s happening here in Madrid.


Get involved
Give
Join our team
CLOSE Triple the impact of your gift to rein in corporate power when you donate by Nov. 30!
CLOSE
Triple Your Impact to Challenge Corporate Power
Triple the impact of your gift to rein in corporate power when you donate by November 30! Triple My Gift