Paris climate talks: What’s at stake and what’s happening
Friends of the Earth Scotland today released a timetable of significant events over the next two weeks of negotiations and outlined the challenges ahead of the UN Climate Conference in Paris.
Timetable of events
The 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) starts on Monday 30th November in Paris and runs for two weeks. Heads of State will attend on the first day.
Scottish Climate Minister Dr Aileen McLeod is attending the climate conference towards the end of the first week and the First Minister may also attend.
28th November – Scotland’s Climate March – Edinburgh – Facebook event
29th November – Climate marches and rallies around the world, including Dundee, Inverness and London
30th November – Climate talks starts, with Heads of State meeting including David Cameron, Barack Obama and President XI Jinping.
3rd December – Ecumenical climate service at Notre Dame
4th December – Scotland’s 2050 Group event
5th December – Climate Citizens’ Summit in Montreuil, Paris showcasing low-carbon alternatives
7th December – Friends of the Earth International side event on People, Rights and Justice https://seors.unfccc.int/seors/reports/events_list.html?session_id=COP21
10th December – Paris gathering of global anti-fracking campaigns
11th December – Conference is scheduled to end and international Friends of the Earth activists gathering including at least 50 people from Scotland
12th December – Special event with campaigners spelling out a message across the streets of Paris.
For Friends of the Earth Scotland, Director Dr Richard Dixon and Head of Campaigns Mary Church will be at the official negotiations over the next two weeks, as part of an international Friends of the Earth delegation from over 50 countries. Friends of the Earth will be helping 50 people to travel to Paris from Scotland for the international Friends of the Earth gathering on the 11th December and a special event on the 12th December.
Dr Richard Dixon, Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said:
“Despite what world leaders will undoubtedly tell us, the Paris conference is obviously going to fail to deliver enough. The proposed targets offered in advance fall far short of the effort needed to deliver the 2°C world that world leaders have promised, let alone the 1.5°C temperature limit which is needed to protect the most vulnerable people, nations and wildlife. There are still huge disagreements between the big historical polluters of the wealthy West and the poorer countries, more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, particularly around the issues of finance and support for adaptation.
“We’ll be in the negotiations and on the streets of Paris and our messages will be about opposing fossil fuels, starting with fracking, promoting community renewables and shifting public and private investments from dirty energy to clean energy.
“It is still important to put pressure on to ensure that the Paris deal doesn't 'lock-in' low ambition in ongoing climate negotiations in the years to come, as well as ramping up the global fights against fossil fuels and for community renewables.
“The French Government ban on big demonstrations has made things difficult for civil society, with plans for big marches and demonstrations at the start and end of the climate conference now impossible. There are clear links between the conflict in Syria and regional environmental stresses exacerbated by climate change, so in the context of the Paris attacks it is more important than ever that people’s voices are heard. We are working to ensure that people from the climate movement in Scotland will join with others from around the globe on the streets of Paris as the talks draw to a close to show world leaders where the real momentum for change is coming from.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1. Official website of the Conference – http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en/
2. You can follow what’s happening through Twitter with @FoEScot, @mmachch and @Richard_Dixon and through the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland daily blogs that FoE will be contributing to.
3. Contact details for Friends of the Earth Scotland www.foe-scotland.org.uk/ContactUs
4. Friends of the Earth Scotland is:
* Scotland's leading environmental campaigning organisation
* An independent Scottish charity with a network of thousands of supporters and active local groups across Scotland
* Part of the largest grassroots environmental network in the world, uniting over 2 million supporters, 75 national member groups, and 5,000 local activist groups.
www.foe-scotland.org.uk