November, 01 2016, 02:00pm EDT
Paris Agreement Enters into Force This Week, What to Expect at November Climate Talks
WASHINGTON
Nearly every nation banded together less than a year ago to adopt the Paris Agreement, a plan aimed at limiting global climate change. Since then, momentum for tackling global warming emissions has continued to build among nations. The Paris Agreement will enter into force on November 4, earlier than most had predicted and just in advance of the United Nation's annual climate change summit, which takes place in Marrakech, Morocco from November 7 to 18 this year and will be attended by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
"This milestone is certainly cause for celebration, perhaps with a glass or two of French Champagne, but nations still have a lot of hard work ahead of them," said Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at UCS who has been involved in international climate negotiations since they began in 1990. "In Marrakech, countries will be tasked with building on the Paris Agreement's strong foundation to ensure it can be properly implemented and strengthened."
The Paris Agreement's temperature limitation goal, net zero emissions objective and process to steadily increase the ambition of national emissions reduction commitments sent a strong signal to the fossil fuel industry that their efforts to block action on climate change after decades of deception are no longer working. However, maintaining the momentum on climate action depends on progress being made on multiple fronts at this year's climate change summit in Marrakech, including the following:
- Agreement on a process and timeframe for finalizing the Paris Agreement implementation rules on issues such as transparency and reporting, use of market mechanisms to achieve national commitments, land use sector emissions accounting, and creation of a compliance structure.
- Concrete steps to ramp up public and private sector financial support to aid developing countries with adaptation and mitigation actions, implementing their national plans, and accelerating their transition to climate-friendly technologies.
- Determine how the "facilitative dialogue"--a mandated review slated for COP24 in late 2018 to determine if national climate action plans are collectively adequate for meeting the bold temperature limits established in Paris--should be structured.
"The Marrakech climate summit needs to catalyze action on three fronts simultaneously," said Meyer. "Countries need to ramp up near-term actions to reduce their emissions and increase their resilience to climate impacts, intensify efforts to complete the Paris Agreement rule book, and lay the groundwork for stronger national commitments to be put forward by the end of this decade. The unprecedented speed with which countries acted to bring the Paris Agreement into force, as well as last month's agreement on phasing down production and use of hydrofluorocarbons under the Montreal Protocol, gives me hope that Marrakech can and will make the progress needed on all three of these fronts."
IPCC Report on Climate Change Coming, But Countries Experiencing Impacts Now
Communities across the globe are already experiencing the impacts of climate change in the form of droughts, wildfires, more intense hurricanes, climbing temperatures and rising seas. Science tells us these problems will only continue to worsen without more drastic action. Therefore, as called for in Paris, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will issue a special report in 2018 aimed at comparing what life would look like in a world where the global average temperature has increased by 1.5 degrees Celsius, as compared to an increase of 2 degrees Celsius, and laying out the actions needed to meet the Paris Agreement's ambitious temperature limitation goals.
"Work on the IPCC report has already begun, and it will provide an important piece of the scientific puzzle in helping us understand the consequences of not meeting the 1.5 degree Celsius limit," said Adam Markham, deputy director of the Climate and Energy Program at UCS. "But that's of little consolation to the communities that are already bearing the brunt of climate change impacts."
"Therefore, nations need to take actions in Marrakech laying out how countries in need of immediate adaptation and mitigation assistance can obtain the help they require," added Markham. "Furthermore the mounting, ever-worsening climate change impacts should provide nations the impetus to ratchet up their ambition to reduce global warming emissions sooner rather than later."
U.S. Expected to Continue Its Leadership Role at Marrakech
So far, the U.S.--in partnership with China, Canada, Mexico and other nations--has proven to be a strong leader in the U.N. process to decrease global warming emissions and in turn help limit some of the worst impacts of climate change.
"The Paris Agreement will be entering into force in record time largely because of actions taken by the U.S. and other nations that acted early to formally join the Paris Agreement," said Rachel Cleetus, lead economist and climate policy manager at UCS. "When the U.S. and China--two economic power houses and clean energy leaders--announced their intentions to join the Paris Agreement in advance of November's climate summit, they led the way for other nations to act, and made global businesses and investors take notice. Similarly, the U.S. has joined with Canada and Mexico to lay out an ambitious vision for coordinated North American climate and clean energy actions."
This leadership is anticipated to continue in Marrakech, with the U.S expected to release its long-term plan to dramatically lower global warming emissions by mid-century during the second week of negotiations. Nations were invited to submit these plans by 2020 in keeping with the long-term decarbonization goals laid out in the Paris Agreement.
"At Marrakech, we hope to see an ambitious and comprehensive plan from the U.S. that lays out emission reduction opportunities across all sectors of our economy, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement," said Cleetus. "Additionally, the plan should emphasize the need to protect and enhance the natural sinks--such as forests, grasslands and soils--that help absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it. The good news is that the costs of renewables are falling dramatically, which means the transition to a low-carbon economy is becoming increasingly affordable. In addition, it will bring a multitude of public health, economic and climate benefits."
"This blueprint is crucial for our next president and Congress, who will need to develop and adopt the policies that can put the U.S. on a path to achieving net zero emissions by mid-century," added Cleetus. "Such policies should include a robust price on carbon, as well as stronger policies on clean energy, energy efficiency, and land use and forest management. By sharing its plan early, the U.S. is setting an important example that will encourage other nations to follow suit."
The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world. UCS combines independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.
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300+ Arrested Outside Schumer's Home During Jewish-Led Seder Against Gaza Genocide
"No one is free until everyone is free," read a banner representing a Seder plate. "Jews say stop arming Israel."
Apr 24, 2024
As U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer prepared to vote on Tuesday night for a foreign aid package including billions to continue arming Israel in its bombardment of Gaza, roughly 300 protesters were arrested outside his home in Brooklyn for holding an "emergency Passover seder" protest, demanding the U.S. end its support for an assault that has killed at least 34,262 Palestinians.
The protest was led by anti-Zionist Jewish organizers with Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, with a large round banner representing a traditional Seder plate at the center of the protest at Grand Army Plaza, a block from Schumer's home.
Hundreds of people, some wearing traditional Palestinian keffiyehs, linked arms and chanted, "Free, free Palestine!" while blocking traffic and displaying the Seder plate.
"No one is free until everyone is free," read the banner. "Jews say stop arming Israel."
Schumer's home has been the site of numerous protests since October, when Israel began its attacks on and blockade of Gaza, which have left parts of the enclave facing famine and the entire population of 2.3 million people suffering from "acute food insecurity," at a minimum.
"A genocide being carried out in our names as Jews demands that we adapt our sacred tradition again, take to the streets, and do everything we can to prevent more death," author and activist Naomi Klein said at the protest.
The Biden administration has approved numerous weapons transfers to Israel, and the Senate overwhelmingly voted Tuesday night in favor of the package that includes $17 billion more in unconditional aid for the Israel Defense Forces.
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) were the only members of the Democratic caucus who voted against the funding bill. Fifteen Republicans also opposed the bill over its inclusion of Ukraine aid.
The demonstration at Grand Army Plaza was organized amid a burgeoning protest movement on U.S. college campuses, including at Columbia University, where more than 100 students were suspended and then arrested for trespassing last week after setting up an encampment to demand the school divest from all companies that work with the Israeli government.
The student-led protests have been denounced by President Joe Biden and other pro-Israel critics as "antisemitic" and endangering Jewish students, despite the fact that Jewish students have helped to organize the nonviolent demonstrations.
One organizer, Calvin Harrison, told The New York Times that he attended the Brooklyn protest Tuesday night "because I'm a Jew and I was raised to believe that Judaism is about justice."
"Passover is a celebration of liberation for the future," he told the Times. "We can't celebrate liberation for ourselves while we're oppressing Palestinians."
Yonah Lieberman, co-founder of IfNotNow, recalled the group's Liberation Seder in 2016 in New York, where campaigners protested the Anti-Defamation League's support for the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of just three Senate Democratic caucus members to oppose the bill, said that "U.S. taxpayers should not be providing billions more to the extremist Netanyahu government."
Apr 24, 2024
With the support of nearly 80% of the chamber's lawmakers, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved a sprawling foreign aid package that includes $17 billion in unconditional military assistance for the Israeli government as it ramps up its catastrophic assault on the Gaza Strip.
The final vote on the $95 billion package, which also included military aid for Ukraine and Taiwan, was 79-18, with just three members of the Senate Democratic caucus—Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)—and 15 Republicans opposing the bill.
Sanders called Tuesday "a dark day for democracy," condemning the upper chamber's refusal to even allow a vote on his proposed amendment to cut offensive military aid to Israel from the legislation.
"I voted no tonight on the foreign aid package for one simple reason: U.S. taxpayers should not be providing billions more to the extremist Netanyahu government to continue its devastating war against the Palestinian people," Sanders said in a statement following the vote. "Thirty-four thousand Palestinians have already been killed and 77,000 have been wounded—70% of whom are women and children."
"The housing in Gaza is destroyed; the infrastructure in Gaza is destroyed; the healthcare system in Gaza is destroyed; the educational system in Gaza is destroyed," Sanders added. "Enough is enough. No more money for Netanyahu's war machine."
The bill, which passed the House over the weekend, now heads to the desk of President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it in the coming days.
"That Congress passed many billions of dollars for new weaponry for Israel that will be used to devastate Gaza, and could be used in a war against Iran, is deeply disturbing," said the National Iranian American Council.
The 79 senators who voted to pass Biden's foreign aid bill/expand Israel's genocide in Gaza: pic.twitter.com/bVQisvOndd
— Stephen Semler (@stephensemler) April 24, 2024
Overwhelming congressional and White House support for arms and military support stands in stark contrast to U.S. public opinion, which has increasingly turned against Israel's assault on Gaza in recent months as the grisly death toll and humanitarian emergency have worsened and evidence of Israeli war crimes has mounted.
As Tuesday's vote took place, thousands of Jewish New Yorkers and allies rallied outside of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) home to voice outrage over U.S. lawmakers' growing complicity in Israel's military assault.
"We're here as thousands of Jewish New Yorkers, calling on Senator Schumer to halt weapons funding to Israel as it massacres and starves Palestinians in Gaza," said Eva Borgwardt, national spokesperson for IfNotNow, one of the groups that organized the mass demonstration on the second night of Passover.
A Gallup survey released last month found that 55% of U.S. voters—including 75% of Democrats, 60% of Independents, and 30% of Republicans—disapprove of Israel's military assault on Gaza. A separate poll commissioned by the Center for Economic and Policy Research showed that a majority of American voters support halting U.S. weapons shipments to Israel.
Since October, the Biden administration has quietly approved more than 100 arms sales to Israel, flouting U.S. laws that prohibit weapons deliveries to countries that are violating human rights or blocking American humanitarian aid.
"As I have said countless times, sending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government the munitions it is using to destroy Gaza is wrong and inconsistent with our foreign policy goals," Welch said Tuesday after voting against the aid package. "It is unthinkable that an ally of the U.S. would conduct its military campaign with planes, tanks, bombs, and artillery supplied by the U.S., while impeding access for aid trucks to destitute civilians under its occupation."
"Urgent calls for peace are loudly echoing across the country but seem to fall on deaf ears on Capitol Hill."
Days before the Senate vote, mass graves were discovered at two Gaza hospitals that Israeli forces recently raided and destroyed. The United Nations Human Rights Office on Tuesday demanded an international probe into the mass graves, noting that bodies of Palestinians were found stripped naked with their hands tied.
"Victims had reportedly been buried deep in the ground and covered with waste," Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
One Gaza official toldCNN that a total of 300 bodies were found in a mass grave at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis and that "there were signs of field executions."
"The U.S. government is arming a regime creating mass graves in Gaza, indeed turning all of Gaza into a mass graveyard," Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now, wrote on social media Tuesday.
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"This is a huge testament to our collective strength and resilience as a progressive movement," said the executive director of Justice Democrats.
Apr 24, 2024
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, a member of the progressive "Squad," won the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District on Tuesday, fending off an opponent whose campaign was backed by a billionaire Republican megadonor and ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Lee, a vocal critic of the Netanyahu government and leading supporter of a cease-fire in Gaza, handily defeated Bhavini Patel, a borough councilmember in Edgewood, Pennsylvania whose effort to unseat the progressive incumbent was bankrolled by Jeffrey Yass, the state's richest man. Patel actively courted Republican and pro-Israel voters, characterizing Lee as "fringe."
With more than 95% of the vote counted, Lee is ahead of Patel by more than 20 percentage points.
"I am so humbled and proud to win my first primary reelection to be the congresswoman for this incredible district I've spent my life fighting for," Lee said after the race was called in her favor. "Our campaign was built on a record of delivering for our democracy, defending our most fundamental rights, and expanding our vision for what is politically possible for our region's most marginalized communities."
"Our victory is a rejection of right-wing interests and Republican billionaires using corporate super PACs to target Black and brown Democrats in our primaries—be it AIPAC or Moderate PAC or any other MAGA billionaire in Democratic clothing," Lee added. "Western PA is the blueprint for the future all of America deserves."
Opposing genocide is good politics and good policy. #CeasefireNOWÂ https://t.co/A7pnJNskWS
— Summer Lee (@SummerForPA) April 24, 2024
Through the misleadingly named Moderate PAC, Yass—a prolific tax dodger who has been floated as a possible treasury secretary pick if former President Donald Trump wins another term—spent hundreds of thousands of dollars boosting Patel and attacking Lee.
Rahna Epting, executive director of MoveOn Political Action, said that by ushering Lee to victory, residents of Pennsylvania's 12th District "soundly rejected MAGA dark money."
"MoveOn members are ready to defeat this dangerous flood of dark-money spending against progressive champions and ensure that we continue to elect working-class people to Congress," said Epting.
"Now that it's clear Summer won her primary, AIPAC's super PAC has already officially failed at their one goal for this cycle: taking out the entire Squad."
During her 2022 campaign, Lee faced and overcame huge spending by the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC via its super PAC, the United Democracy Project. But the organization opted to stay on the sidelines this time around, even as it plans to spend $100 million to defeat progressives in this year's cycle amid growing public opposition to Israel's war on Gaza.
"They had every intention of spending in this race—but they didn't, because they realized they would likely lose," Justice Democrats executive director Alexandra Rojas wrote in an email late Tuesday. "And that is because all of us had Summer's back and supported her campaign to out-organize AIPAC in every way."
"This is a huge testament to our collective strength and resilience as a progressive movement," said Rojas. "Now that it's clear Summer won her primary, AIPAC's super PAC has already officially failed at their one goal for this cycle: taking out the entire Squad."
While AIPAC ultimately sat out the Pennsylvania race, it is devoting considerable resources to ousting other progressive lawmakers, including Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.).
The pro-Israel lobbying group has endorsed Bush challenger Wesley Bell, calling him a "strong advocate for the U.S.-Israel relationship." As The Guardianreported last week, Bell has "raised more than $650,000 in earmarked contributions through the group Democracy Engine Inc. PAC—a donation platform that allows unpopular PACs to obscure their donations and lists AIPAC as a client on its LinkedIn page."
AIPAC is the largest donor to Bowman challenger George Latimer, who has supported Israel's war on Gaza and denied that Israel is committing genocide. The Democratic primary for New York's 16th Congressional District is on June 25.
We must be clear-eyed about what's next. @JamaalBowmanNY & @CoriBush are facing an existential threat from AIPAC, their GOP megadonors, and the politicians willing to compromise on core Democratic values to try to take a school principal & nurse out of Congress. #ProtectTheSquad
— Justice Democrats (@justicedems) April 24, 2024
Michele Weindling, political director of the youth-led Sunrise Movement, said Tuesday that following Lee's victory, "we're ramping up to take on AIPAC in Jamaal Bowman's race."
"With a candidate like George Latimer willing to sell their lies to the district, we are going to prove once again that a politician's commitment to their community beats dark money every time," said Weindling. "Whether it's in Pittsburgh or New York, Minneapolis or St. Louis, our generation is going to send billionaires packing and reelect the squad."
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