COP21

Renewable Energy After COP21: 9 Issues For Climate Leaders to Consider

December 15, 2015 Richard Heinberg, www.postcarbon.org Create! Climate Change, COP21

By Richard Heinberg for Post Carbon Institute - We all know that the transition away from fossil fuels is key to maintaining a livable planet. Several organizations have formulated proposals for transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy; some of those proposals focus on the national level, some the state level, while a few look at the global challenge.David Fridley (staff scientist of the energy analysis program at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) and I have been working for the past few months to analyze and assess many of those proposals, and to dig deeper into energy transition issues—particularly how our use of energy will need to adapt in a ~100 percent renewable future.

COP21 And The Invisible Jungle Of Calais

December 15, 2015 Cherri Foytlin, www.bridgethegulfproject.org Educate! Climate Change, COP21

By Cherri Foytlin for Bridge the Golf - On December 7, 2015, while participating in events surrounding the 21st Conference of Parties regarding Climate Change (COP21), I had the opportunity to join a group that included an artist, several documentarians, activists, and Gulf Coast front line leaders Juan and Bryan Parras, in visiting The Jungle - a “refugee camp” in Calais, France. Our intention was to witness first-hand the migrant crisis now happening across Europe, as people flee from the devastating effects caused by climate change, economic disaster, and the resulting rise in terroristic activities in their countries.

Post-Game Thoughts On The Paris Talks

December 15, 2015 Ezra Silk and Margaret Klein Salamon, www.theclimatemobilization.org Resist! Climate Change, COP21, Paris

By Ezra Silk and Margaret Klein Salamon for The Climate Mobilization - The Paris climate talks are over, and the postmortems on the final agreement are flooding in. Here’s our take: After 21 years of negotiations, we finally have an agreement that the majority of nations are expected to ratify. This is a critical breakthrough in terms of shared global understanding of the crisis. We are grateful that world leaders have agreed to make an effort to collectively tackle the climate crisis.

Pentagon To Lose Emissions Exemption Under Paris Climate Deal

December 15, 2015 Arthur Neslen, www.theguardian.com Educate! Climate Change, COP21, Pentagon

By Arthur Neslen for The Guardian - The US military and armed forces of countries around the world will no longer be automatically exempted from emissions-cutting obligations under the UN Paris climate deal, the Guardian has learned. Although the US never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, it won an opt-out from having to fully report or act on its armed forces’ greenhouse gas emissions, which was then double-locked by a House national defence authorisation bill in 1999. Under the Paris agreement, countries would not be obliged to cut their military emissions but, equally, there would be no automatic exemption for them either.

What The Paris Agreement Does, And Doesn’t Do

December 14, 2015 Staff, www.350.org Educate! COP21

By Staff of 350.org - One of the biggest battles at COP21 has been the goal of how much we let our planet heat up. Vulnerable countries fought hard for the goal of 1.5°C — one that’s more in line with justice and science. This wasn’t even on the table to begin with. It’s now in the agreement (well sort of), and even a recognition of it is great. Much is owed to island nations and climate justice groups. Here’s what the text does say: “Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.”

1.5° C Is Better For All Of Us, And Here’s One Key Thing It Means

December 14, 2015 Staff, www.350.org Educate! Climate Change, COP21, Fossil Fuels

By Staff of 350.org - One target has stormed back into contention at the Paris climate talks: 1.5 degrees Celsius. That number has been around for years, but in the past it was only pushed by a coalition of small island states and most vulnerable countries. Now that coalition has fresh backing from the likes of Canada, Australia, France, the USA and China. It has a good chance of being contained in the final text that emerges from the talks. Here’s three important things you should know about the number: The best thing about 1.5° C: It is better for all of us – not just small island states...

How Backward US Climate Politics Shaped Weak COP21 Deal

December 14, 2015 Suzanne Goldenberg, www.theguardian.com Educate! Climate Change, COP21, United States

By Suzanne Goldenberg for The Guardian - At 11.30pm Paris time, a small group of White House officials dashed into a temporary plywood hut in the exhibition hall where, a few hours earlier, a historic legal agreement to cut emissions causing climate change was secured. They were just in time to catch a live feed of Barack Obama declaring “a turning point for the world”. These were the officials who helped set the US negotiating position for the talks – or, perhaps more accurately, helped craft the deal according to US specifications in order to insulate Obama and the agreement from attacks.

Newsletter: Opportunity For Climate Justice, If We Mobilize

December 13, 2015 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.popularesistance.org Newsletter Climate Change, Climate Justice, COP21, Corporatism, Fossil Fuels, Neoliberalism, TPP, Trade

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. The COP21 resulted in an agreement that was 25 years in the making, beginning with the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. Until now the world had been unable to reach an agreement on combating climate change. Because the document required unanimous consensus it is the lowest common denominator. Countries that depend on oil as the basis of their economy, like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, as well as those with strong climate denialism, like Australia and the United States, which combines denialism with corporate domination of government, all had to agree. The lowest common denominator is not good enough.

The People’s Demands To Achieve Climate Justice

December 13, 2015 Staff, www.peoplestestonclimate.org Resist! Climate Change, Climate Justice, COP21

By Staff of Peoples Climate Demands. Nothing less than a systemic transformation of our societies, our economies, and our world will suffice to solve the climate crisis and close the ever-increasing inequality gap. After over 20 years of stunted and ineffective action to reduce climate pollution by governments – particularly in wealthy countries that have failed to meet their legal and moral responsibilities – only urgent and transformative and systemic change that can address the root causes of the crisis and deliver what is needed to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius, the limit beyond which climate impacts will become potentially catastrophic. The urgency to keep temperatures down is not just about the planet and the environment. It is about people, and our capacity as humanity to secure safe and dignified lives for all. As social movements, environmental non-governmental organizations, trade unions and other civil society organizations with deep roots in communities around the world struggling to cope with the climate crisis, we take hope from the fact that while the scale of the challenge is enormous, people already have solutions and alternatives that work at the scale we need.

Paris Deal: Epic Fail On A Planetary Scale

December 13, 2015 Danny Chivers and Jess Worth, www.newint.org Educate! Climate Change, Climate Justice, COP21, Paris

BY Danny Chivers and Jess Worth for the New Internationalist. After two weeks of tortuous negotiations – well, 21 years, really – governments announced the Paris Agreement. This brand new climate deal will kick in in 2020. But is it really as ‘ambitious’ as the French government is claiming? Before the talks began, social movements, environmental groups, and trade unions around the world came together and agreed on a set of criteria that the Paris deal would need to meet in order to be effective and fair. This ‘People’s Test’ is based on climate science and the needs of communities affected by climate change and other injustices across the globe. Does the deal pass the test? The 15,000 people who took to the Paris streets today to condemn the agreement clearly didn’t think so.

Friends Of The Earth: Paris Climate Deal Is A Sham

December 13, 2015 Staff, http://www.foei.org Educate! Climate Change, climate crisis, Climate Justice, COP21

By Staff of Friends of the Earth International. “Despite the hype, the Paris agreement will fail to deliver. Politicians say it is a fair and ambitious deal – yet it is the complete opposite. People are being deceived,” said Dipti Bhatnagar, Friends of the Earth International climate justice and energy coordinator. Jagoda Munic, chairperson of Friends of the Earth International said: “Instead of acting with ambition and urgency, our governments are acting in the interests of powerful lobbies and corporations, but people are taking back the power. History will not be made in the convention centre, but on the streets of Paris and round the globe. The climate justice movement is unstoppable and will continue to expand in 2016 and beyond. A handful of politicians will not stop the energy revolution.”

COP21 Concludes: Thousands Draw Red Lines Throughout Paris

December 12, 2015 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Climate Change, climate crisis, Climate Justice, COP21

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. On the final day of the COP21 meetings in Paris, thousands of people took to the streets to display the urgent need for climate justice. Red lines made with umbrellas, cloth, banners and roses emphasized the point that action is needed now to confront the climate crisis. The climate agreement was announced and while there was a lot of self congratulations at reaching an agreement and many big greens applauded the result, climate scientist James Hansen gave the bottom line. The Guardian reports: “It’s a fraud really, a fake,” he says, rubbing his head. “It’s just bullshit for them to say: ‘We’ll have a 2º C warming target and then try to do a little better every five years.’ It’s just worthless words. There is no action, just promises. As long as fossil fuels appear to be the cheapest fuels out there, they will be continued to be burned.” Hansen describes a crisis-level urgency saying that “More than half of the cities of the world are at risk.” He describes the economic costs of the climate crisis as incalculable.There will be hundreds of millions of climate refugees, and he predicts global governance breaking down.

Painted Massive Sun On Paris Streets Demands Renewable Energy Policy

December 12, 2015 Willa Frej, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! COP21, Paris, Renewable Energy

By Willa Frej for The Huffington Post Climate activists gathered Friday morning to give COP21 negotiators a little encouragement and send a message to the French government: get France to commit to producing 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. Environmental group Greenpeace commissioned 80 activists from Germany, France and Belgium to paint a large, yellow sun on Paris' Etoile -- the roundabout that encircles the Arc de Triomphe. They used washable paint that isn't environmentally harmful, Greenpeace said.

Red Lines, Condoms And Arc De Triomphe: Climate Activists Step Up Protests

December 12, 2015 Valerie Volcovici, Bate Felix, Jonathan Leff and Janet Lawrence, www.reuters.com Resist! Climate Change, COP21, Protests

By Valerie Volcovici, Bate Felix, Jonathan Leff and Janet Lawrence for Reuters - From storming the Arc de Triomphe in central Paris to handing out condoms to bureaucrats in the suburbs, climate change activists stepped up public stunts on Friday in a last-ditch bid to get negotiators to agree a powerful accord. Two weeks of U.N. talks to forge a global agreement to temper global warming are set to continue into Saturday, a day later than scheduled, as officials from 195 nations seek to resolve stubborn differences over how to cut back fossil fuel use and shift the planet toward greener growth.

Decrying Draft Deal ‘Fails Humanity,’ COP21 Protesters Draw Red Line

December 12, 2015 Sarah Lazare, www.commondreams.org Resist! Climate Change, COP21, Protests

By Sarah Lazare for Common Dreams - People from around the world on Friday stretched a large "red line" through the COP21 summit to register their outrage at politicians' failure to strike an ambitious draft climate deal—and to call for social movements in Paris and internationally to continue to take to the streets. "Once again, world leaders have shown they lack the political courage, decency, and integrity to stand up for the needs of the most impacted communities around the world in the biggest ecological crisis of our time," Ananda Lee Tan, a Vancouver-based organizer with Climate Justice Alliance, told Common Dreams over the phone from Paris.

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