Oil Change International & ClimateTruth – 2018-12-13 00:50:35
https://act.climatetruth.org/sign/peoples-lofoten-declaration-HQ
ACTION ALERT: Two Critical Words
Are Missing from the Paris Agreement: “Fossil Fuels”
Oil Change International & ClimateTruth
KATOWICE, Poland (December 11, 2018) — Right now, world leaders are gathered in Poland at this year’s UN climate talks, negotiating the rules for how the Paris Agreement will be implemented. This is important stuff.
Within the Paris Agreement are critical goals, agreed to by over 100 countries, to take efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 C, a goal shown to be all the more important after the recent IPCC special report.
But there are two critical words missing from the Paris Agreement: “fossil fuels.”
That’s right, nowhere in the Paris Agreement is there discussion of the critical need for ramping down the production of fossil fuels. But, as our analysis has clearly shown, any climate policy that doesn’t include the ending of fossil fuel expansion is critically incomplete.
We need a new kind of climate leadership that takes the fossil fuel industry head on. Watch this video, and join us to demand decision-makers around the world show real climate leadership:
Over 500 organizations around the world have joined in making this demand, signing onto the Lofoten Declaration. This declaration makes it clear that it is the urgent responsibility and moral obligation of wealthy fossil fuel producers to lead in putting an end to fossil fuel development and to manage the decline of existing production.
Join these 500 organizations from 76 countries by signing on to the people’s version of this declaration. We need to show that real climate leadership means:
1. Standing up to the influence of the fossil fuel industry on our political processes;
2. No new exploration, expansion, or financing of fossil fuel production; and
3. Creating a plan to manage the decline of fossil fuel production and invest in a Green New Deal.
Our partners from Oil Change International on the ground in Katowice, Poland at the UN climate talks are working hard to push leaders to recognize the urgent need for action to ramp down fossil fuel production.
They’re pressing development banks to stop financing fossil fuel projects, working with leaders of small island states to call for greater ambition in the talks, and they’re out in the streets raising their voices alongside key allies and impacted communities.
Thanks for standing with us to demand REAL climate leadership.
— David Turnbull, Oil Change USA
At Oil Change USA, we believe in people power. Together, we kick fossil fuel money out of politics, keep fossil fuels in the ground, and build political support for real climate leadership.
ACTION: Demand Real Climate Leadership:
Sign the People’s Lofoten Declaration
Related News
“This year’s UN climate talks — brought to you by coal?” Grist, 12-04-2018
“We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe, warns UN,” The Guardian, 10-08-2018
ACTION ALERT: Sign The Lofoten Declaration
Oil Change International
The Lofoten Declaration was written in August 2017 at a gathering in the Lofoten Islands of Norway of academics, analysts, and activists, all of whom recognize that globally we have a window of opportunity to limit the expansion of the oil and gas industry, in order to achieve the Paris climate goals. We invite other organisations worldwide to join the call.
Why is it called the Lofoten Declaration? The oil industry is lobbying hard for the seas around Lofoten to be opened to oil drilling — which would be devastating to the climate, the local people, and to Lofoten’s natural beauty — but activists have successfully managed to block these plans for years. This strategy must be expanded around the world to oppose the oil and gas industry.
Additional sign-ons are welcome on an ongoing basis. Please see http://LofotenDeclaration.org for the full list of signatories, and please contact collin@priceofoil.org with any questions.
Sign the people’s version of the Lofoten Declaration, which affirms that it is the urgent responsibility and moral obligation of wealthy fossil fuel producers to lead in putting an end to fossil fuel development and to manage the decline of existing production.
THE LOFOTEN DECLARATION
Climate Leadership Requires a
Managed Decline of Fossil Fuel Production
Global climate change is a crisis of unprecedented scale, and it will take unprecedented action to avoid the worst consequences of our dependence on oil, coal, and gas.
Equally as critical as reducing demand and emissions is the need for immediate and ambitious action to stop exploration and expansion of fossil fuel projects and manage the decline of existing production in line with what is necessary to achieve the Paris climate goals.
Clean, safe, and renewable fuels are already redefining how we see energy and it is time for nations to fully embrace 21st century energy and phase out fossil fuels.
The Lofoten Declaration affirms that it is the urgent responsibility and moral obligation of wealthy fossil fuel producers to lead in putting an end to fossil fuel development and to manage the decline of existing production.
We stand in solidarity with, and offer our full support for, the growing wave of impacted communities around the world who are taking action to defend and protect their lives and livelihoods in the face of fossil fuel extraction and climate change.
It is a priority to elevate these efforts. Frontline communities are the leaders we must look to as we all work together for a safer future.
A global transition to a low carbon future is already well underway. Continued expansion of oil, coal, and gas is only serving to hinder the inevitable transition while at the same time exacerbating conflicts, fuelling corruption, threatening biodiversity, clean water and air, and infringing on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and vulnerable communities.
Energy access and demand are and must now be met fully through the clean energies of the 21st century. Assertions that new fossil fuels are needed for this transformation are not only inaccurate; they also undermine the speed and penetration of clean energy.
We recognize that a full transition away from fossil fuels will take decades, but also, that this shift is an opportunity more than a burden. We are in a deep hole with climate. We must begin by not digging ourselves any deeper.
Research shows that the carbon embedded in existing fossil fuel production will take us far beyond safe climate limits. Thus, not only are new exploration and new production incompatible with limiting global warming to well below 2ºC (and as close to 1.5ºC as possible), but many existing projects will need to be phased-out faster than their natural decline.
This task should be first addressed by countries, regions, and corporate actors who are best positioned in terms of wealth and capacity to undergo an ambitious just transition away from fossil fuel production. In particular, leadership must come from countries that are high-income, have benefitted from fossil fuel extraction, and that are historically responsible for significant emissions.
We call on these governments and companies to recognize that continued fossil fuel exploration and production without a managed decline and a just transition is irreconcilable with meaningful climate action.
We also note that there are tremendous leadership opportunities for these countries to demonstrate that moving beyond oil, coal, and gas – both demand and production – is not only possible, but can be done while protecting workers, communities, and economies.
