For a Fossil Fuel Free Future

One of the most important initiatives which needs support by countries attending COP27  is the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty spearheaded by Tzeporah Berman.

We are sharing here, with her consent, her powerful speech delivered at the She Changes Climate Summit:

“First I want to recognize that I am speaking to you from the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First nations where I am honoured to live and work in Vancouver Canada. 

 

I am very proud to be one of the women in the Summit declaring an emergency, calling for greater climate ambition and for a 50:50 Vision. 

 

Like in nature, diversity is where we find strength. 

 

It is simply a fact that the problems that we face today are a result of male dominated decision making. It is also a well documented fact that women are disproportionately affected by climate change and the majority of the worlds care givers. As care givers we know the impacts of poisoned air, poisoned water and extreme weather on those that we care for.   

 

Climate change and climate policy is complicated but what’s not complicated is that 86% of the emissions trapped in our atmosphere and smothering the planet – causing the fires and floods being experienced as we speak in many areas of the planet – come from three products oil, gas and coal. It’s the burning of these products that is also threatening our lives. 

 

Air pollution, most significantly from burning fossil fuels, is causing more than seven million premature deaths each year — 1 in 5 deaths worldwide.

Going into COP27 we know that Implementation of current Nationally Determined Contributions pledges would put the world on track for around 2.5ºC of warming by the end of the century — significantly missing the Paris Agreement’s 1.5ºC limit.

Despite this, governments are on track to produce more than double the fossil fuels that would be in line with the Paris Agreement’s goal of 1.5ºC.

To stay below 1.5C there must be no new oil and gas fields or coal mines, and global clean energy investment tripled by 2030 plus immediate and rapid transition away from fossil fuel production.

Fossil fuels are causing the climate, health and global energy crises. As world leaders gather at the UN Climate Summit, it’s time they end expansion of new fossil fuel projects and commit to a plan and timeline to phase out oil, gas and coal in keeping with science and equity. We need to fast track a global fair transition to clean energy that leaves no country, community, family or worker behind.

 

A COP that doesn’t address fossil fuels is a COP that doesn’t address the root cause of climate change.

 

I will never forget the day I searched the Paris agreement and found it didn’t even mention the words fossil fuels, oil, gas or coal. 

 

We have been trying to constrain emissions yet we don’t have agreements or policies in place to stop industry expansion of production.

 

This must change. And not simply references to unabated fossil fuels or inefficient subsidies. 

 

Did you know that the IMF reports our governments are handing the oil and gas companies – who are making billions in record profits – 11 Million dollars a minute in subsidies? This has to stop. There are no efficient fossil fuel subsidies at a time when the science is clear we need to wind down emissions and production quickly in order to stay alive. 

 

There is no abatement good enough to allow for expansion of fossil fuel production in the emergency. Certainly not vague promises for bioengergy capture and storage or carbon capture at scales that are completely unrealistic and untested. 

 

We have the ability and technology today to scale up efficiency, electrificatation and renewable energy to replace the far majority of our fossil fuel use and enough under production and already to use during the transition.

 

Let me say this as clearly as possible.

 

It is not a transiton if you are growing the problem.

 

 

That means no more new gas infrastructure in Africa, no more offshore drilling in the UK, Canada, Norway. No more expansion of fracking in the US in the Permian basic. And certainly no more oil drilling in the heart of the amazon.

 

We are fooling ourselves if we think we can bend the curve without stopping the expansion of these deadly projects.

 

What I see at the forefront of stopping these projects and ringing the alarm bells are women, in Columbia standing up to stop fracking and new coal mines, in Argentina, in the Amazon and at home in Canada and the United states where indigenous women are being jailed for standing up to call for the same thing that the scientists are calling for. No expansion of fossil fuels and infrassture. What we build today is our childrens future. What we build today is what we will use for the next 30-50 years. 

 

What needs to happen at COP27?

 

First: Wealthy polluting nations must pay for the wreckage they have caused while also avoiding further loss and damage and deaths caused by fossil fuel air pollution by ending the expansion of oil, gas and coal.

Second: World leaders must pick a side by ending the expansion of coal, oil and gas in keeping with science and joining Vanuatu in developing a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to manage a global fair energy transition. A Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty complements demands to eliminate all indirect and direct fossil fuel subsidies and highlights the importance of international cooperation to phase out fossil fuels in a fair way, building on the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance and the Powering Past Coal Alliance initiatives.

 

The call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty is gaining momentum. It has been publicly supported by the President of Vanuatu, the President of Timor-Leste, the Climate Minister of New Zealand, the World Health Organisation, the Foreign Minister of Tuvalu, the European Parliament and the Vatican. The three pillars of the proposal have also been backed by 101 Nobel Laureates, 3,000 academics, 1,800 civil society organisations, more than 500 parliamentarians and 70 major cities and subnational governments globally.”

Delivered by Tseporah Berman, at the SHE Changes Climate Summit, on the eve of COP27.

To learn more about this initiative: https://fossilfueltreaty.org/.

Elise Buckle

Elise Buckle travaille dans le domaine du climat et de la durabilité depuis 20 ans. Conseillère stratégique auprès des Nations Unies, titulaire des Masters LSE et Sciences Po, elle est Présidente de Climate & Sustainability, une plateforme de partenariat pour l’action climatique et a co-fondatrice SHE Changes Climate. Elle enseigne au Graduate Institute à Genève et au Glion Institute for Entrepreneurship and Sustainability.

Une réponse à “For a Fossil Fuel Free Future

  1. Thanks for this. I completely agree with most of hit. However, I believe there is a better approach to phasing out fossil fuels, which incorporates Climate Justice. The problem with simply reducing the supply of fossil fuels, which a non-proliferation treaty would ultimately accomplish, is that prices will rise in an uncontrolled fashion, allowing some companies to profit and hurting pore people. We need to combine it with a redistribution scheme to make it work: http://www.global-climate-compensation.org.

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