August, 10 2021, 09:15am EDT
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Stop the Money Pipeline Members & Allies Release New Expectations for Forthcoming Biden Admin Climate-Related Financial Risk Strategy
WASHINGTON
Today, 86 members of the Stop the Money Pipeline (STMP) coalition and allies released a new letter outlining expectations for the Biden administration's forthcoming strategy on climate-related financial risk, which was mandated within 120 days of President Biden's May 20th Executive Order (EO) on the subject.
The letter was sent to National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Sholanda Young, who were tasked with developing the strategy. It provides a series of recommendations on what must be included in the strategy as directed in Section 2 of the executive order. The letter also calls for the administration's strategy to be made publicly available so that advocates and the public can have transparent insight into the administration's forward progress towards addressing climate risk.
READ THE EXPECTATIONS FOR THE FORTHCOMING CLIMATE RELATED FINANCIAL RISK STRATEGY
Member organizations of the Stop the Money Pipeline coalition released the following statements about the forthcoming strategy:
" The robust and bold executive order that our communities need is one that puts all financial institutions - public and private - firmly on a path to rapidly and drastically cutting emissions and centers racial, climate, environmental, and economic justice. We need President Biden stop the harm that financial institutions are fueling and we need him to direct reparative investments to Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities for a just recovery from decades of fossil fuel racism" said Erika Thi Patterson, Climate and Environmental Justice Campaign Director for the Action Center on Race and the Economy
"With the release of the new IPCC report and the ever present Line 3 pipeline being near completion, now more than ever it is imperative that this administration steps up and meets the SMTP executive order expectations and prioritizes bold climate action. Financial policy and regulation is one area where the administration has a myriad of existing authority that allows it to take the decisive and necessary steps to attenuate further climate chaos. We cannot allow Wall St to wreak any more havoc on our climate than they already have" said Amy Gray, Senior Climate Finance Strategist at Stand.earth
"With its climate-finance executive order, the Biden administration began catching up with frontline communities, climate advocates, the IPCC, and even the IEA in recognizing that investments in the industries causing climate change are catastrophic for people and the planet. But issuing plans to make plans doesn't match the urgency of the climate crisis, which is why we are saying loud and clear that the administration must do everything in its power to ensure the drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by public and private actors in ways that promote climate, racial, and economic justice" said Moira Birss, Climate & Finance Director, Amazon Watch
"As the latest report from the IPCC has made all too clear, we must stop extracting and burning fossil fuels now. That's why President Biden's forthcoming Climate-Related Financial Risk Strategy must unequivocally wind down federal programs support of fossil fuels, including divesting federal agencies from fossil fuel companies. Further this strategy must also stop new fossil fuel related infrastructure investments and focus on building renewable energy systems in a just and equitable manner" said Mitch Jones, Policy Director, Food & Water Watch
"The latest IPCC report released this week should light a fire under the feet of this administration to treat climate change like the grave emergency that it is and to take urgent action across the board to drastically reduce emissions. That includes confronting how financing for fossil fuel production drives climate chaos. President Biden's Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk provides a critical opportunity to ensure that the financial system is protected from, and protective of, the climate - but only if the administration makes clear that finance cannot be "net zero" unless finance is fossil-free" said Steven Feit, Senior Attorney, Center for International Environmental Law
Signatories:
- Action Center on Race and the Economy
- Indigenous Environmental Network
- Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)
- Mazaska Talks
- Rainforest Action Network
- Seeding Sovereignty
- Friends of the Earth US
- Oil Change International
- Amazon Watch
- 350.org
- Food & Water Watch
- Zero Hour
- Center for International Environmental Law
- PRBB Foundation
- Climate Hawks Vote
- Small Business Alliance
- Revolving Door Project
- Future Coalition
- Center for Biological Diversity
- Earth Guardians
- National Family Farm Coalition
- Earth Action, Inc.
- Stand.earth
- Our Part Foundation
- Green Education and Legal Fund
- WildEarth Guardians
- FracTracker Alliance
- CA Businesses for a Livable Climate
- CatholicNetwork US
- Businesses for a Livable Climate
- CO Businesses for a Livable Climate
- Power Past Fracked Gas
- Oil and Gas Action Network
- Climate Finance Action
- Social Eco Education (SEE-LA)
- The YEARS Project
- North American Climate, Conservation and Environment (NACCE)
- Sunflower Alliance
- 1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations
- Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard
- Fossil Free California
- Revolution Coalition
- Bronx Climate Justice North
- North Bronx Racial Justice
- RapidShift Network
- Call to Action Colorado
- Wall of Women
- North Range Concerned Citizens
- Spirit of the Sun
- The Green House Connection Center
- Comite Nacional de Lucha Contra el Cambio Climatico, CNLCC-RD
- Global Energy Monitor
- Future Nexus
- Elders Climate Action
- No business
- Clean Energy Action
- Empower our Future
- 198 methods
- The Borneo Project
- Sisters Health & Wellness Collective
- Kickapoo Peace Circle
- Extinction Rebellion SF Bay
- Ktisis Capital
- 350 Colorado Springs
- 350 Seattle
- 350 Eugene
- 350 Hawaii
- NM Climate Justice
- 350 Juneau
- 350NYC
- 350Kishwaukee (Illinois)
- 350PDX
- MN350 Action
- 350Wenatchee
- 350 Triangle
- 350ma-Berkshires
- 350 Butte County
- SoCal 350 Climate Action
- Connecticut Citizen Action Group
- Montbello Neighborhood Improvement Association
- 350 Conejo / San Fernando Valley
- Milwaukee Riverkeeper
- 350 Pensacola
- Unite North Metro Denver
- Climate Action Rhode Island - 350
- Solarize Albany County
The Stop the Money Pipeline coalition is over 160 organizations strong holding the financial backers of climate chaos accountable.
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"The U.S. has become a petrostate and is still, even under President Biden, permitting new drilling," John Sterman of MIT said. "The developed countries don't show any significant efforts to limit drilling."
Jul 24, 2024
Five wealthy countries including the United States have led a global surge in oil and gas development in 2024, threatening international climate goals, according to an analysis published by The Guardian on Wednesday.
The U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Norway together are projected by the end of 2024 to have issued licenses for fossil fuel projects that will emit 11.9 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetimes—far more than in any of the previous five years, and roughly equal to a full year of emissions from China, the world's highest emitter—according to industry data analyzed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and shared with the newspaper.
The five states are responsible for more than two-thirds of all oil and gas licenses issued globally since 2020, with the U.S. alone accounting for half of the world total. President Joe Biden's administration increased oil and gas licensing by 20% over Trump-era levels, and issued a record 758 new extraction licenses in 2023, according to the analysis.
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Sterman pointed to a "fundamental contradiction" between rich countries' international commitments and their ongoing fossil fuel expansion. "We can't keep going on like this," he said.
Revealed: wealthy western countries lead in global oil and gas expansion
Surge by world’s wealthiest countries – such as the US and the UK- threatens to unleash 12bn tonnes of planet-heating emissions.
By @olliemilman & @ninalakhani https://t.co/esY5IuIfi9
— jonathanwatts (@jonathanwatts) July 24, 2024
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The Conservative-led U.K. government issued a surge of North Sea licenses in the first half of this year, but lost power to the Labour Party following a general election earlier this month. It's not yet clear if Labour will be able or willing to rescind licenses already issued. Currently the U.K. is set to finish 2024 with 72 licenses for projects that would create 101 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetimes—a 50-year high, according to the IISD analysis. Norway and Australia are also seeing major upticks this year.
Capital expenditure at the world's largest oil companies is up 60% since 2020, with $302 billion projected to be spent on well development this year, The Guardian reported. The fossil fuel expansion continues even though the reserves in rich countries are generally hard to reach, as more accessible reserves have already been tapped.
The expansion also comes in spite of disturbing climate news—2023 was hottest year on record, June was the 13th consecutive hottest month, and Monday was the hottest day, having broken a record set the previous day—and dire warnings from leading international institutions. No new fossil fuel projects can proceed if the world is to meet the 1.5° Paris agreement target, the International Energy Agency declared in 2021.
In December, at the United Nations COP28 climate summit, the world's nations agreed to transition away from fossil fuels, though the agreement was viewed by climate campaigners as weakly worded and ridden with loopholes.
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Abortion rights advocates in Arkansas were cautiously optimistic Tuesday evening that the state government would count the signatures of more than 100,000 residents who signed petitions in support of an anti-forced pregnancy constitutional amendment, after the Arkansas Supreme Court issued a limited order calling on the secretary of state to begin the process.
Secretary of State John Thurston, a Republican, moved earlier this month to disqualify the petition that advocates had spent months gathering signatures for, claiming organizers had failed to provide information about paid signature-gatherers who had worked on the campaign run by Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG).
On Tuesday evening, the court ruled that Thurston must begin "the initial count of signatures collected by volunteer canvassers according to A.C.A. 7-9-126(a)," but said nothing about whether signatures gathered by paid workers needed to be counted.
The order did not indicate whether Thurston is required to begin the second stage of the tallying process, in which his team would verify that the signatures are accurate and belong to Arkansas voters.
That stage would begin a "cure" period during which AFLG would be allowed to continue collecting signatures.
"We are heartened by this outcome, which honors the constitutional rights of Arkansans to participate in direct democracy."
AFLG turned in more than 101,000 signatures in time for the July 5 deadline, including an estimated 87,382 that were collected by volunteers and 14,143 gathered by paid workers, according to the Arkansas Times.
The state requires a petition for a constitutional amendment to have at least 90,704 signatures to qualify for the November election ballots—so if Thurston is required to count only the signatures collected by volunteers and does not have to initiate the cure period, AFLG's petition may fall short.
The state Supreme Court did leave open the possibility of an additional ruling on the matter, saying the panel "reserves the right to issue further orders and proceed in accordance with state law."
Despite the uncertainty, AFLG said in a statement that "the will of the people won" this round of the fight to ensure Arkansas residents can vote for abortion rights in November.
"On behalf of 101,000 Arkansas voters, 800 volunteers, and the AFLG team, we thank the court for upholding democracy in Arkansas," said the group. "We are heartened by this outcome, which honors the constitutional rights of Arkansans to participate in direct democracy, the voices of 101,000 Arkansas voters who signed the petition, and the work of hundreds of volunteers across the state who poured themselves into this effort."
The amendment proposed by AFLG would state that the Arkansas government "shall not prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion services within 18 weeks of fertilization" or in the cases of rape, incest, or "fatal fetal anomaly."
The pro-democracy group For AR People said the court's ruling was "a good start" and noted that at least three of the court's seven judges—Justices Courtney Hudson and Karen Baker and Chief Justice Dan Kemp—seemed "favorable to AFLG's arguments" that the count, the verification process, and the cure period should commence.
Matt Campbell of the Arkansas Times pointed out that AFLG could legally continue gathering signatures as they would during the cure period, before one officially begins.
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AFLG said that although the matter is not entirely resolved, the court's decision was "reflective of our state motto: 'The People Rule.'"
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The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the primary aid agency operating in Gaza, has seen the largest impact on staffers and their family members. The leaked report estimates that Israeli forces have killed 158 dependents of UNRWA staffers since October.
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Over the weekend, Israeli soldiers fired on a U.N. convoy heading toward Gaza City. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that "the teams were traveling in clearly marked U.N. armored cars and wearing U.N. vests."
"While there are no casualties, our teams had to duck and take cover," he added. "Like all other similar U.N. movements, this movement was coordinated and approved by the Israeli authorities."
Targeting humanitarian relief personnel is a war crime.
#Gaza
Heavy shooting from the Israeli Forces at a UN convoy heading to Gaza city.
While there are no casualties, our teams had to duck and take cover.
This took place yesterday. The teams were traveling in clearly marked UN armoured cars & wearing UN vests.
One vehicle…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 22, 2024
Grim noted that the leaked report is just "the latest in a series of alarming findings regarding Israel's actions in Gaza," much of which is facing famine conditions due to what U.N. experts recently described as a "targeted starvation campaign" by Israel.
During a 12-hour period earlier this week, Israeli forces killed at least 70 Palestinians and wounded around 200 others—mostly women and children—in a barrage of attacks on the city of Khan Younis, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.
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