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climate justice alliance
Climate Justice Alliance Calls United States Contribution to the Loss and Damage Fund “Shameful” at COP28
Dec 01, 2023
Today, at the end of the first day of the 2023 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), the United States announced their pledge to the Loss and Damage Fund of $17.5 million. Some news outlets report a commitment of 24.5 million. The Loss and Damage Fund was created at last year’s conference of parties to ensure frontline countries bearing the brunt of environmental devastation due to climate change, are compensated for past, present, and future impacts to their economies, communities, and ecological systems.
In response to this news, Bineshi Albert, co-Executive Director of Climate Justice Alliance, released this statement:
“The amount pledged by the United States is insulting. It is a paltry, shameful amount of money that shows the US is completely uninterested in prioritizing or being accountable to the climate impacts frontline communities are facing. By comparison, Island Nations have requested at least $100 billion over the first four years. Furthermore, the United States refuses to acknowledge historic responsibility for the decades of damage that has been done to communities bearing the brunt of climate change and the fossil fuel industry.Climate Justice Alliance is part of the “It Takes Roots Alliance” delegation of North American frontline groups attending COP28 in Dubai to demand that community solutions, climate reparations, and human rights be central to the global climate commitments made at COP28.
"This amount is not only ineffective to address these harms and injustices but it is minuscule compared to the hundreds of billions in loan, grants, and tax breaks available from the Inflation Reduction Act to corporations to further build out or prolong the life of fossil fuel infrastructure and energy intensive fuels like hydrogen. This pledge is also a drop in the bucket compared to the ANNUAL $20.5 billion in fossil fuel subsidies handed out by the US government, which recently surged to $7 trillion in 2022.
"Additionally, we understand the United States government, in its negotiations, pushed for these contributions to be “voluntary.” This is another clear sign that the United States does not take responsibility for its harmful past actions nor does it consider the needs of the most impacted and marginalized communities seriously.”
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North American Frontline Climate Justice Groups To Take a Stand at the UN Climate Conference COP28 in the United Arab Emirates
Nov 29, 2023
Climate justice leaders from organizations representing impacted frontline communities will be sending a delegation to the 2023 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 28th session of the Conference of Parties, commonly referred to as the UNFCCC COP28.
The frontline delegation is calling upon world leaders to pass and adhere to binding agreements, including the immediate phase out of dirty energy, and to commit to meaningful climate reparations for communities that are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis.
WHO:
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- Climate Justice Alliance
- Indigenous Climate Action
- Indigenous Environmental Network
WHAT: United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28)
WHEN: November 30, 2023 — December 12, 2023
WHERE: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Click here for a lookbook with spokespeople who are available for interviews are available for interviews.
The delegation leaders reject market-based schemes and techno-fixes that are designed to prolong the lifespan of the dirty fossil fuel industry, and put communities at risk.
“The climate crisis demands a rapid just transition for a binding global phase out of fossil fuels and all extraction and production at source. With the risks and uncertainties of carbon capture and storage and carbon dioxide removal technologies, the world does not need more climate false solutions that divert attention away from the crucial work of stopping the ongoing colonial and capitalist frameworks that are consistently adopted by the UNFCCC,” said Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network. “The carbon markets of Article 6, the bogus safeguard language which has no legal protections for Indigenous Peoples, geoengineering techno-fixes, and the lack of fossil fuel phase out language are all connected. The longer the UN sanctions the climate disinformation embedded in Article 6, the deeper and stronger the impacts of climate change will be.”
The delegation is clear that to truly tackle the climate crisis, its root causes have to be addressed.
“The UNFCCC continues to prioritize false solutions and so-called climate policies that only serve corporations, ongoing colonialism and predatory capitalism.” said Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, Executive Director of Indigenous Climate Action. “Our solutions expose the fallacy of colonial logic that consistently seeks to reduce the climate crisis to an economic crisis. By taking up space, calling out false solutions, and demanding the reinstitution of our legal rights as Indigenous peoples we are working towards a decolonial and climate-just future for all.”
The groups are also aware of the limitations within formal United Nations spaces.
“In order to achieve the policy shifts we need, even the best inside strategies at COP28 won’t be strong enough if we don’t organize powerful, grassroots pressure on the outside as well.” said Bineshi Albert, Co-Executive Director of Climate Justice Alliance. “True climate solutions are coming not from a formal UN negotiation process, but from the growing pressure and power of our collective struggle.We are in unity with blossoming social movements across the globe, led by the people most impacted by the climate crisis. We are pressuring governments to be responsive to the needs of our communities, and for more meaningful action, while implementing our own real solutions on the ground and planning for how vulnerable communities can best survive severe impacts of climate change.”Keep ReadingShow Less
Carbon Capture and Sequestration is Not a Real Solution and will further harm Environmental Justice communities
May 11, 2023
This morning, President Biden announced a proposed new climate rule that would require most fossil fuel power plants to slash their greenhouse gas pollution 90 percent between 2035 and 2040 — or shut down.
At face value, the rule looks to encourage power providers to hasten their decisions to shut down aging coal-fired power plants. However, the EPA rule will allow fossil fuel corporations to maintain or expand other fossil fuel powered plants to “capture” greenhouse gas emissions and store it underground - a technology that is not economically feasible, safe for communities, or even proven to work at the rate needed to address the problem. This ruling from the EPA will also encourage a boom in hydrogen development, which is energy intensive to produce, can produce health damaging air pollution when combusted, and is a play by the fossil fuel industry to extend its viability and profits.
In reaction to the announcement, Ozawa Bineshi Albert, Co-Executive Director at the Climate Justice Alliance, a national nonprofit representing 89 rural and urban community-based environmental justice organizations and supporting networks, issued the following statement:
“Today’s proposed rule from the Biden Administration to dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions from US power plants is critical recognition that we must cut climate pollution if our communities are to survive.
“But if we are to combat climate change we must do so with real, viable solutions - not unproven technologies that only promise to continue the legacy of dumping pollutants onto frontline communities.
“Let's be clear: Carbon capture and sequestration technologies are harmful and unproven. They do not operate at scale, and to expand carbon capture to a fraction of what is envisioned by this order would require constructing thousands of miles of polluting pipelines into communities already most impacted by the burning of fossil fuels. A study in the European Union showed that adding Carbon Capture to power plants increased Nitrogen Oxides by 44%, particulate matter by 33%, and ammonia by a whopping 30 fold increase. CCS projects will exacerbate environmental disparities and lead to more environmental racism. This is a distraction - one that will let fossil fuel extraction continue unchecked.
“While we recognize the Biden Administration’s ambitious goal of combating carbon pollution and shutting down polluting power plants - we demand real, community-based climate and energy solutions, not more false promises for the sake of the fossil fuel industry. We need bold action. It’s time Biden declared a national climate emergency!”
Reacting to the Biden Administration’s specific focus on carbon capture and hydrogen technology, Juan Jhong Chung, Policy Director at the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition and member of the Climate Justice Alliance, added:
“It is shameful that only weeks after President Biden signed an Environmental Justice executive order, the EPA is mandating policies that benefit the fossil fuel industry and investor-owned utilities at the expense of Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. Carbon capture technology and hydrogen will increase local air pollution, taint clean drinking water, threaten the safety of communities in the path of new pipelines, and raise energy bills for families nationwide. Deploying CCS in coal and gas plants, or blending hydrogen and fossil gas will not reduce carbon emissions, but it will continue the pattern of sacrificing disadvantaged communities for the benefit of greedy corporations. Tackling the climate crisis means shutting down fossil fuel power plants and ensuring a Just Transition to renewable energy. Our government must reject these failed technologies that enable more environmental racism.”
Teri Blanton, former chairperson at Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and member of the Climate Justice Alliance, added:
“Communities and workers most affected by extraction, processing, and burning coal are demanding climate solutions that lower our energy energy bills, protect our health, and create family sustaining jobs. This ain’t it. Carbon capture is an expensive scam. Even big coal now opposes this rule, after falsely pushing the myth of so-called clean coal for decades. It’s time to listen to frontline communities, retire fossil fuel infrastructure, and invest in a Just Transition to clean energy with solutions that do not further harm our communities.”
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Climate Justice Leaders Applaud President Biden’s Executive Order Expanding Focus on Environmental Justice in Federal Agency Planning
Says Action Would Not Have Come Without Persistent Advocacy from Frontline Communities, Environmental Justice Movement as they Continue to Push for Coherent Climate Policy & an End to Fossil Fuels
Apr 21, 2023
Moments ago, President Biden signed Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All, an executive order strengthening and expanding interagency coordination around environmental justice.
In reaction to the announcement, Ozawa Bineshi Albert, Co-Executive Director at the Climate Justice Alliance, a national nonprofit representing 89 rural and urban community-based environmental justice organizations and supporting networks, issued the following statement:
“Today’s executive order is the result of nearly two decades of organizing by the environmental justice movement. From the original Environmental Justice Executive Order declared under President Clinton in 1994, we have come a long way thanks to frontline organizing power! This win belongs to our communities who have been on the frontlines of the climate crisis, creating solutions, building local power, and engaging lawmakers for decades.
“President Biden’s new executive order expands environmental justice decision-making processes to all federal agencies, embedding environmental justice considerations into future planning and development.
“For too long, these considerations were seen as something that should fall under the purvue of the Environmental Protection Agency or the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) but now environmental justice must be a concern for all.
“However, as we celebrate today’s victory, we must also recognize that Biden has come to be known worldwide as the fossil fuel president, having approved more drilling projects on federal land than Trump during their first two years in office. The recent approval of harmful, extractive drilling leases such as the Willow Project in Alaska, in the Gulf and the LNG pipeline, demonstrate the need for coherent and aligned policies that move us toward a truly Just Transition, not an expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure.
"We will continue to ensure that this step forward isn’t just performative. The new office of environmental justice must ensure strong, consistent procedures are implemented across agencies moving forward.
“Our communities will continue to organize to stop false solutions, support regenerative economic solutions, and ensure that justice and equity are codified and implemented at the rate and speed needed to meet the moment.”
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