Indigenous people lead a large climate demonstration in Brussels on October 23rd, 2022.
COP27 Activists to UN: Stand for Just Transition, Not 'More Net-Zero Nonsense'
"Just transition principles require community-driven solutions which are the opposite of all these 'net-zero' scams proposed at the COP."
Frontline climate campaigners on Wednesday reiterated demands for a just transition to a post-carbon economy and for eschewing false solutions to a worsening planetary emergency as the activists prepare to travel to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt later this week.
"The world needs funding for real solutions like just transition, climate reparations, and self-determination of Indigenous and frontline communities."
The Just Transition Alliance, along with Central Florida Jobs with Justice, Familias Unidas por la Justicia, and United Steelworkers Local 675 will take a delegation of community organizers to participate in COP27, which begins Sunday in the Sinai resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Delegation members include rank-and-file leaders from Indigenous, Black, Brown, migrant, and poor white communities that have experienced the storms, floods, fires, droughts, pollution, and pandemic that are all linked to human-caused climate change.
"The just transition worker delegation will bring the voices of workers from different sectors of the economy, and that is exciting because we will have the opportunity to strategize together about how to build solidarity among workers and build a collective analysis to share with our communities," Edgar Franks, an organizer with Familias Unidas por la Justicia, said in a statement.
Just Transition Alliance executive director Jose Bravo asserted that "this is a critical moment to come together and force state representatives at the U.N. to center the vision, voices, and priorities of those workers and communities who are first and most impacted by climate change so that we can effectively reduce both climate pollution and the direct harm faced by people everywhere."
"Beware of corporate co-optation of the U.N. agenda," he added, arguing that "just transition principles require community-driven solutions which are the opposite of all these 'net-zero' scams proposed at the COP."
Central Florida Jobs with Justice Organizer Paula Munoz said that "climate impact will always be felt strongest by the most vulnerable communities and that includes immigrants who are forcibly having to uproot their lives to survive. We need to understand how climate is deeply tied to migration and develop infrastructure to create resilient communities in the face of climate disaster."
Ananda Lee Tan, strategy adviser for Just Transition Alliance, explained that the activists are going to COP27 "to draw a clear line in the sand between just transition strategies led by frontline communities and workers on one side, and corporate climate schemes such as [carbon capture and storage], bioenergy, nuclear power, forest carbon offsets, and hydrogen fuels on the other."
"The world needs funding for real solutions like just transition, climate reparations, and self-determination of Indigenous and frontline communities," he added, "and the U.N. needs to stop subsidizing more net-zero nonsense!"
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just hours left in our Spring Campaign, we're still falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Frontline climate campaigners on Wednesday reiterated demands for a just transition to a post-carbon economy and for eschewing false solutions to a worsening planetary emergency as the activists prepare to travel to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt later this week.
"The world needs funding for real solutions like just transition, climate reparations, and self-determination of Indigenous and frontline communities."
The Just Transition Alliance, along with Central Florida Jobs with Justice, Familias Unidas por la Justicia, and United Steelworkers Local 675 will take a delegation of community organizers to participate in COP27, which begins Sunday in the Sinai resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Delegation members include rank-and-file leaders from Indigenous, Black, Brown, migrant, and poor white communities that have experienced the storms, floods, fires, droughts, pollution, and pandemic that are all linked to human-caused climate change.
"The just transition worker delegation will bring the voices of workers from different sectors of the economy, and that is exciting because we will have the opportunity to strategize together about how to build solidarity among workers and build a collective analysis to share with our communities," Edgar Franks, an organizer with Familias Unidas por la Justicia, said in a statement.
Just Transition Alliance executive director Jose Bravo asserted that "this is a critical moment to come together and force state representatives at the U.N. to center the vision, voices, and priorities of those workers and communities who are first and most impacted by climate change so that we can effectively reduce both climate pollution and the direct harm faced by people everywhere."
"Beware of corporate co-optation of the U.N. agenda," he added, arguing that "just transition principles require community-driven solutions which are the opposite of all these 'net-zero' scams proposed at the COP."
Central Florida Jobs with Justice Organizer Paula Munoz said that "climate impact will always be felt strongest by the most vulnerable communities and that includes immigrants who are forcibly having to uproot their lives to survive. We need to understand how climate is deeply tied to migration and develop infrastructure to create resilient communities in the face of climate disaster."
Ananda Lee Tan, strategy adviser for Just Transition Alliance, explained that the activists are going to COP27 "to draw a clear line in the sand between just transition strategies led by frontline communities and workers on one side, and corporate climate schemes such as [carbon capture and storage], bioenergy, nuclear power, forest carbon offsets, and hydrogen fuels on the other."
"The world needs funding for real solutions like just transition, climate reparations, and self-determination of Indigenous and frontline communities," he added, "and the U.N. needs to stop subsidizing more net-zero nonsense!"
Frontline climate campaigners on Wednesday reiterated demands for a just transition to a post-carbon economy and for eschewing false solutions to a worsening planetary emergency as the activists prepare to travel to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt later this week.
"The world needs funding for real solutions like just transition, climate reparations, and self-determination of Indigenous and frontline communities."
The Just Transition Alliance, along with Central Florida Jobs with Justice, Familias Unidas por la Justicia, and United Steelworkers Local 675 will take a delegation of community organizers to participate in COP27, which begins Sunday in the Sinai resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Delegation members include rank-and-file leaders from Indigenous, Black, Brown, migrant, and poor white communities that have experienced the storms, floods, fires, droughts, pollution, and pandemic that are all linked to human-caused climate change.
"The just transition worker delegation will bring the voices of workers from different sectors of the economy, and that is exciting because we will have the opportunity to strategize together about how to build solidarity among workers and build a collective analysis to share with our communities," Edgar Franks, an organizer with Familias Unidas por la Justicia, said in a statement.
Just Transition Alliance executive director Jose Bravo asserted that "this is a critical moment to come together and force state representatives at the U.N. to center the vision, voices, and priorities of those workers and communities who are first and most impacted by climate change so that we can effectively reduce both climate pollution and the direct harm faced by people everywhere."
"Beware of corporate co-optation of the U.N. agenda," he added, arguing that "just transition principles require community-driven solutions which are the opposite of all these 'net-zero' scams proposed at the COP."
Central Florida Jobs with Justice Organizer Paula Munoz said that "climate impact will always be felt strongest by the most vulnerable communities and that includes immigrants who are forcibly having to uproot their lives to survive. We need to understand how climate is deeply tied to migration and develop infrastructure to create resilient communities in the face of climate disaster."
Ananda Lee Tan, strategy adviser for Just Transition Alliance, explained that the activists are going to COP27 "to draw a clear line in the sand between just transition strategies led by frontline communities and workers on one side, and corporate climate schemes such as [carbon capture and storage], bioenergy, nuclear power, forest carbon offsets, and hydrogen fuels on the other."
"The world needs funding for real solutions like just transition, climate reparations, and self-determination of Indigenous and frontline communities," he added, "and the U.N. needs to stop subsidizing more net-zero nonsense!"