FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CCI brief for Finance in Common Summit suggests ways to speed resources to achieve climate and poverty goals

FEB. 26, 2025 — With the Finance in Common Summit under way in Cape Town, South Africa, Climate Civics International has offered a policy brief outlining the tools and strategies to accelerate the movement of capital to address climate change and achieve Sustainable Development Goals.

With the sudden retreat of support from major donors like the United States, the collapse of critical climate systems could happen faster than expected, leading to disastrous consequences. As CCI's policy brief notes, "If such aid is not delivered, we know the trends toward local destabilization will rapidly worsen in many places, and safeguards against the spread of conflict will be undermined."

CCI suggests that public development banks, local governments, and national economic development programs can add more value to the mainstream economy, by advancing investable opportunity in seven areas:

1. Expand climate value: Policies, trade and funding decisions at all levels shield the climate from further deterioration.

2. Alignment of pricing measures and regulations: Setting trade standards and providing incentives for both nations and industries to compete inside a better marketplace.

3. Data systems: Link Earth science platforms into financial data flows to support better outcomes for people and for the planet.

4. Early warning capacity: Integrated data systems can save lives, protect infrastructure and investment, and prevent multi-generational debt burdens from halting development.

5. Nature and biodiversity: Set standards that reward banks and financial institutions for prioritizing support to business practices that restore nature and protect biodiversity.

6. Secure food supplies: Align food systems finance, production and distribution methods, to support better health outcomes, macroeconomic stability and decent and enduring livelihoods for agricultural communities.

7. Participatory civics: Stakeholders at the local level must have a say in government policies to address climate risk and wealth inequality.

CCI's policy brief recommends "renewed exploration of connections and teleconnections, to inform financial data and other performance metrics that drive decision-making. The aim of this recommendation is simple: We need to begin connecting the dots in ways we have not done so to date."

Read more in CCI's policy brief on "Levers of Acceleration for Finance in Common."

CONTACT: Steve Valk, steve@climatecivics.org, 404-769-7461.

Over 18 months, CCI ran a focused consultation on Priorities for a Livable Future and received input from more than 75 contributors in 23 countries. Chapters providing guiding insights from stakeholders and a call for solidarity and good governance were published ahead of the Summit. As the report notes, we did this “because we believe it is essential to bring outside voices into the halls of power and to provide local, values-based insights to intergovernmental meetings like the United Nations Summit of the Future.”

“The overriding insight from the report is the need to rethink how the world defines prosperity,” said Joe Robertson, Executive Director of Climate Civics International. “Given the threat that climate change poses to the well-being of people and the livability of many places on the planet, all policies and investments must consider climate value. In other words, the future depends on whether we really measure what is at stake in our decision-making, whether overarching and everyday decisions will worsen or improve climate-related risk and cost.”

Nine years ago, the 193-nation United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which lists 17 Sustainable Development Goals to improve the quality of life for all people and protect the environment, making our planet and our societies safe for future generations. Progress toward achieving these goals is woefully behind schedule, and a major impediment is climate chaos.

In a section of CCI’s report about the Sustainable Development Goals, contributors shared suggestions on how to get the goals back on track. A sampling of insights and actions to prioritize:

• On SDG1, ending poverty: Design and support new business models that deliver multiple SDG benefits while providing expanded access to new investment, new skills, and better livelihoods.

• On SDG2, ending hunger: Shift policy, banking, and investment standards, to support a transition to sustainable, climate-resilient production of food that is healthy, affordable, and accessible to all.

• On SDG5, gender equality: Gender equality improvements can accelerate society-wide progress on all of the Goals, and all of the Goals—and relevant implementation actions, policies, and investments—should have gender equality as a core priority.

Our ability to preserve a livable world for future generations, the focus of the Summit of the Future, hinges on our success or failure to contain global heating to no more than 1.5° Celsius. At COP28 in Dubai last year, 196 nations agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels” in order to prevent breaching this dangerous threshold. 

“If we are serious about our commitment to that transition, we must redefine what it means to have a prosperous future,” said Robertson. “Our report indicates there is awareness and support for a coordinated rapid phase out of fossil fuels and for putting climate value at the heart of all development.”

CONTACT: Steve Valk, media@climate-civics.org

A detailed summary with links to the full report is online at ClimateValue.net/rp24

NOTE: This media release has been updated to reflect CCI’s rebranding to Climate Civics International.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With legislatures tasked with devising solutions to achieve their nations’ climate goals, Citizens’ Climate International initiated the first Interparliamentary Exchange earlier this month. The exchange provided a forum for lawmakers and others to share their experiences and learn from each other about how to infuse climate value into the policies and programs they’re working to enact in their countries.

During the Exchange, the costs and impacts of climate change and a just transition to renewable energy were leading topics brought up by the legislators. The Hon. Terseer Ugbor, a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives, said desertification in the northern part of the country is displacing herdsmen and causing violent clashes with farmers. 

“[The desert is] still coming, and it’s led to a lot of problems where herdsmen can’t find water and can’t find vegetation for their animals anymore,” said Terseer. “This has led to migration of herdsmen toward the southern part of the country, and this migration means that the herdsmen encroach on farmland.”

On the subject of a just transition, Terseer said that phasing out fossil fuels will be difficult for Nigeria, a nation dependent on oil and gas extraction for a significant part of its economy. “We in Africa see the hypocrisy of the West, in a way, where the West was built on coal. Coal power. Gas Power. But now we’re being forced to rely strictly on renewables.” 

“We need a lot more support. A lot more engagement and a fairer transition from fossil fuels to renewables,” said Terseer.  

For the visiting lawmakers, one of the most inspiring aspects of the Interparliamentary Exchange was seeing how Citizens’ Climate Lobby volunteers engage members of Congress with an attitude of appreciation and finding common ground to push climate solutions forward.

“One of the key things I’m taking away from here is that climate action and advocacy depends a lot on relationships and the quality of those relationships,” said Chinwe Obuaku-Igwe, a government consultant in Nigeria. “It’s all about getting everyone to find common ground, to find that shared humanity that gives us that impetus that empowers us to save the planet, to save the Earth for our children.”

In a summary statement about the Exchange released last week, Citizens’ Climate International called for multilateral cooperation to infuse Climate Value into decisions about investments and trade: 

“Climate Value is a critical missing ingredient in local, national, and global analysis of finance, investment, public policy, and trade priorities. The world cannot wait for one perfect metric; we must accept that Climate Value will look and feel different, according to local context and experience. It will also connect to nearly all areas of sustainable and integrated human development.”

In July of 2025, CCI will build on the 2024 Interparliamentary Exchange by organizing a Climate Value Exchange Conference that will welcome lawmakers, other officials, and stakeholders from at least 10 countries.

“Ideally, this becomes an annual Climate Value Exchange conference,” said CCI Executive Director Joe Robertson. “The thing is that in the next two years, according to the commitments they’ve already made, nations are supposed to make new announcements about their national climate plans, about international financial flows, about vulnerability-sensitive debt relief and about climate-smart agriculture investments. All of those things are supposed to start to become more concrete by the end of 2025, when the climate negotiations happen in Brazil. These conversations, the annual meeting but then also ongoing discussions throughout the year, can be a way to help make sure that those plans are better designed, more contextually relevant, more viable, more conducive to good economic outcomes for local communities.”

CONTACT: Steve Valk, steve@citizensclimate.org, 404-769-7461

MEDIA ADVISORY

CCI to host Interparliamentary Exchange on climate

With an eye toward speeding up the global transition away from fossil fuels, Citizens’ Climate International will host an Interparliamentary Exchange in Washington, D.C. — June 9 -12 — at which legislators from various countries will discuss multilateral cooperation in efforts to promote effective climate solutions that will rein in climate change.

WHAT: Interparliamentary Exchange of climate-interested lawmakers from around the world.

WHO: Lawmakers from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Zambia are expected to attend.

WHEN: June 9-12

WHERE: Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. 2500 Calvert Street NW, Washington, District of Columbia 20008.

WHY: The policies and programs needed to fight climate change — carbon pricing, climate-smart agriculture, eliminating deforestation, clean energy support — must be enacted by the legislatures of nations throughout the world. It makes sense, therefore, for lawmakers from those countries to meet and discuss best practices and policies with the aim of international cooperation that can hasten the restoration of a stable climate.

The Interparliamentary Exchange is part of the Citizens’ Climate annual conference and lobby day to support the efforts of advocates working to enact climate solutions.

Contact: Steve Valk; steve@citizensclimate.org; 404-769-7461

DEC. 13, 2023 — The following is a statement from Citizens’ Climate International Executive Director Joe Robertson about the recently-completed COP28 climate conference in Dubai.

The agreement reached at COP28, which recommends "transitioning away from fossil fuels," is an historic breakthrough, acknowledging for the first time that we cannot maintain a livable world unless we stop burning coal, oil and gas. But, as former Vice President Al Gore said, “Whether this is a turning point that truly marks the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era depends on the actions that come next.”

We welcome the COP citing fossil fuels as a primary driver of global heating, for the first time, but the COP28 went deep into over-time, because some still hope to profit from pollution. No nation has the right to decide that another nation will be extinguished. That is effectively what happens when major emissions exporters decide they will continue to emit at levels inconsistent with maximum global heating of 1.5ºC. Low-lying island nations and other vulnerable countries are right to say the transition away from fossil fuels must be consistent with their physical survival.

With emissions still rising, we know the only way to limit global heating to 1.5ºC and secure a livable future is a full phase-out of fossil fuels. A steadily rising price on carbon can deliver an orderly and decisive phase-out of fossil fuels; returning revenue to households will facilitate the transition without imposing economic hardship on people.

The COP28 achieved other historic successes:

• Delivering the first Global Stocktake (GST) and activating the Loss and Damage Fund, though initial contributions are only a fraction of what is needed.

• More than 140 nations have now signed onto the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action, agreeing to link food systems to their national climate plans, and negotiations on the Global Goal on Adaptation have recognized the need for shifting to resilient regenerative food systems.

• The GST text recognizes “the importance of ensuring the integrity of all ecosystems, including in forests, the ocean, mountains and the cryosphere, and the protection of biodiversity…”

We thank the COP28 for recognizing the need for "meaningful and effective social dialogue and participation of all stakeholders," and we look forward to the rapid scaling up of non-market international cooperation to link national efforts, align prices, and support the alignment of all trade and finance with 1.5ºC.

Additional CCI resources on COP28

• Overview of CCI activities around COP28 – cci2040.org

• Earth Diplomacy Leadership Workshops, co-convened with The Fletcher School at Tufts University

• The Right to Resilience – The 2023 Reinventing Prosperity Report

DEC. 8, 2023 — Every human being has the right to a livable future, but for much of the world that right is being violated and threatened by the persistent worsening of climate change. A new report from Citizens’ Climate International — The Right to Resilience — outlines the steps and transformations needed to preserve a livable world for all people.

One of the biggest transformations needed is the way the world grows and delivers food to people. To that end, CCI is co-hosting a side event at COP28 to report on progress toward establishment of a Good Food Finance Facility that will provide funding for healthy, sustainable food systems. Scheduled to start operations in 2024, the Facility will serve as both a coordinating mechanism and a mechanism for delivery of finance for food systems transformation.

The CCI report highlights a startling finding of the State of the Climate Report, which suggests a deeply altered future scenario for human civilization:

“By the end of this century, an estimated 3 to 6 billion individuals — approximately one-third to one-half of the global population — might find themselves confined beyond the livable region, encountering severe heat, limited food availability, and elevated mortality rates because of the effects of climate change (Lenton et al. 2023).”

“We need to be clear,” the CCI report says, “that in a world where most people experience unlivable conditions, there will be unprecedented migration, unprecedented disruption of everyday institutions, unprecedented levels of competing-interest confrontations between people not equipped to solve everything for everyone; these are the ingredients of conflict and global destabilization. Climate risk is not only about a marginal loss of steadily increasing value, as many still imagine it to be; climate risk is the risk of persistent, pervasive destabilization, and all the harm and cost that would follow.”

Pulling together data from a number of sources, the Right to Resilience report concludes that not honoring that right to a livable future will have unbearable costs: At 3C of warming, most coastal cities and low-lying island nations will disappear; the hidden costs of our current food systems, accumulated since signing of Paris Agreement in 2016, now exceeds $42 trillion; melting of permafrost will release methane that drives temperatures higher; mass migrations will destabilize countries and lead to conflict.

The CCI report suggests, considering the costs of inaction, it is clearly in the interests of all nations to:

• Decarbonize as quickly as possible, while fostering inclusive, climate-resilient, and sustainable human development;

• Rapidly scale up investments in practices that protect and restore nature, and build ecological resilience;

• Rapidly scale up investments in coordinated adaptation and resilience measures that support everyday human security and prosperity;

• Treat resilience as a universal right, and a core measure of legitimacy, and incentivize all industries and trading partners to do the same.

“At Citizens’ Climate International, we say that a livable future is a human right, a right that all people are entitled to—not just people who, by accident of birth, live in places yet to be devastated by climate change,” said Joe Robertson, CCI Executive Director. “Our world cannot have one set of values for people who live in affluent countries and another set of values for people living in nations that are struggling. A civilization operating under such an ethos is like a business with two sets of books: illegitimate and primed for collapse.”

Contact: Steve Valk; steve@citizensclimate.org; 404-769-7461

Resources

• Roadmap for achieving net-zero emissions in global food systems by 2050

• Principles for Reinventing Prosperity

• Trade Can Deliver a Climate-Smart Future

• Net-Zero by 2040 is Common Sense

• The Hidden Costs of Food

CCI at COP28

• CCI Focus Areas for COP28

• First CCI dispatch from COP28

• 2nd CCI dispatch from COP28 (end of Week 1)

• Follow all CCI COP28 activities at cci2040.org

• Get CCI briefing notes at cciblue.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CCI endorses carbon fee & dividend bill introduced in U.S. Congress

SEPT. 29, 2023 — Citizens’ Climate International welcomes the introduction of legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that would place a steadily rising fee on the carbon content of fossil fuels and return revenue from the fee to households. 

The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, introduced by Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA), offers an effective market-based approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions known as carbon fee and dividend. In addition to speeding up the transition to clean energy, the bill would also protect American businesses from unfair competition with imports from countries that do not have an equivalent price on carbon, applying what is known as a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM).

“At CCI, we consider this the gold standard for carbon pricing and the best way to quickly phase out fossil fuels,” said Joe Robertson, executive director of Citizens’ Climate International. “This legislation can be a model for other countries to price carbon. By giving the proceeds to households, polluters will bear the cost for their harmful activities, not people.”

Carbon pricing policies that return proceeds to households have been enacted or are under consideration in Canada, Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

Citizens’ Climate Lobby, CCI’s sister organization that supports climate advocates in the U.S., noted in a press release that:

“a carbon price neatly complements the Inflation Reduction Act. Experts from the Rhodium Group point out, ‘A carbon price can amplify the impact of clean energy incentives.’ A policy like the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act will essentially supercharge the effect of the IRA’s subsidies, encouraging corporate polluters to opt for low-carbon alternatives even faster.” 

In a press release this week, Rep. Carbajal said, “With this legislation, not only do we require fossil fuel companies to phase out dirty fossil fuels. We also put money directly into communities that can then use that money to invest in our local economies, create jobs – especially jobs in clean energy sectors, which will be in higher demand. And in the end, we save lives from lowering our emissions curve, cleaning up our air, and keeping us on track to carbon neutrality by 2050.”

CONTACT: Steve Valk, steve@citizensclimate.org; 404-769-7461.

Resources

• Rep. Carbajal introduces legislation to decrease carbon emissions by setting carbon fee, returning dividend directly to American people  

• Carbon pricing bill would supercharge effect of IRA subsidies, cut carbon pollution

• “Klimageld” to return CO2 price revenues to citizens not before 2025

• International Energy Agency: Swiss Carbon Tax

• Canada leads the way on carbon pricing

• Austria to give out annual €200 ‘climate bonus’

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CCI supports Africa Climate Summit call for global carbon tax

SEPT. 7, 2023 — Citizens’ Climate International enthusiastically supports a call from the Africa Climate Summit for a global carbon taxation regime that could be part of the agenda at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai this fall.

“In addition to being the most effective tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a global system for coordinated carbon taxation can also provide the much-needed resources for African countries to transition away from fossil fuels and adapt to the damaging effects of climate change,” said David Michael Terungwa, coordinator of CCI in Africa.

While in Nairobi, Terungwa led a training of climate advocates on building political will for climate action through lobbying, preparing Citizens Climate International volunteers in Kenya to lobby the Kenyan government to put a price on carbon.

The Summit, which wrapped up Wednesday in Nairobi, Kenya, proposed the global carbon tax in a declaration signed by heads of state attending the Summit. In the “Call to action” section of the declaration, the signatories said they: 

“Urge world leaders to rally behind the proposal for a global carbon taxation regime including a carbon tax on fossil fuel trade, maritime transport and aviation, that may also be augmented by a global financial transaction tax (FTT)) to provide dedicated, affordable, and accessible finance for climate-positive investments at scale, and ring-fencing of these resources and decision-making from undue influence from geopolitical and national interests.” 

The declaration also calls for transformational reforms in international financing to relieve the debt burden that inhibits economic development in many countries. In particular, it calls for “debt pause clauses” for countries recovering from catastrophic natural disasters that are becoming more frequent with climate change.

“Debt often becomes a hole that many countries cannot climb out of,” said Terungwa. “When disaster strikes, limited resources are better spent to help people put their lives back together.”

CONTACT: Steve Valk, steve@citizensclimate.org; 404-769-7461.

Resources

• African Climate Summit issues unanimous call for world leaders to support global tax on fossil fuels

• Africa Climate Summit links ‘unfair’ debt burden with calls to make continent’s green assets pay off

• Paris finance summit: Meaningful progress for relief to emerging economies, but more needed

• Paris principles to accelerate cooperative climate resilience

• IMF staff propose international carbon price floor

• Non-market approaches as critical drivers of climate ambition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CCI calls on fossil fuel firms to align business plans with preservation of a livable climate

SEPT. 1, 2023 — In light of a recently released UN letter alluding to human rights violations by oil giant Saudi Aramco, Citizens’ Climate International is calling on all fossil fuel companies to immediately develop future business strategies that reduce rather than increase the manufacture of climate-altering fuels. 

“With the window to preserve a stable climate rapidly closing, and new research projecting climate disruption will kill more than 1 billion people by the end of the century, it is unconscionable that many oil and gas firms plan to ramp up the extraction and production of fossil fuels,” said CCI Executive Director Joe Robertson. “A livable future is a human right, and companies should not violate that right by choosing profit over people.”

In the letter sent to Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser on June 26, five UN experts said, “Rather than aligning its business strategy with the Paris [Climate] Agreement goals, and cutting fossil fuel production and its emissions at the rapid rate necessary to meet the 1.5°C climate mitigation goal, Saudi Aramco’s business strategy is currently increasing its fossil fuel production… This approach disregards Saudi Aramco’s own responsibility to reduce production to address its climate change-related human rights impacts.”

The letter also holds accountable a number of financial institutions that are funding Saudi Aramco's oil and gas expansion, among them JP Morgan, Citi, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. The letter requested information on 10 points brought up in a complaint filed by ClientEarth, but Saudi Aramco has not yet responded.

In June, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that to limit global warming to 1.5°C, countries must progressively phase out fossil fuels, “moving to leave oil, coal and gas in the ground where they belong.” 

“Phasing out fossil fuels can’t happen unless companies get in line with reality and stop extracting oil and gas,” said Robertson. “They can make money by investing in non-polluting energy and other sustainable business activities. It’s time for them to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.”

CONTACT: Steve Valk, steve@citizensclimate.org; 404-769-7461.

Resources

• UN rights experts raise climate change concerns with Saudi Aramco

• Oil and gas firms planning ‘frightening’ fossil fuels growth, report finds

• Letter from UN experts to Saudi Aramco

• ClientEarth complaint on Saudi Aramco filed with UN

• The heat is on. Let’s deal with the cause: Fossil fuels

CCI to World Bank: Put integral human development at the core of the mission

JULY 25, 2023 — With the World Bank gathering feedback at regional meetings this month about the evolution of its vision and mission, Citizens’ Climate International submitted a briefing note today calling on the Bank to support climate-safe integral human development.

“Integral human development implicitly requires that we remove threats and degradations like climate change and related impacts and health threats,” said CCI Executive Director Joe Robertson. “It must be the guiding principle behind everything the Bank does.”

The briefing note requests that the Bank:

1. Invest to support the health of all human beings and all of nature.

2. Recognize human rights, and don’t punish the vulnerable.

3. Support multilateral cooperative arrangements to accelerate integral human development.

4. Include stakeholders in design, delivery, and tracking of development finance.

CCI volunteers in 31 countries have sent letters to the World Bank executive directors representing their countries or regions, asking them to support the Bridgetown Initiative to reform global financial institutions, human rights and gender equality, civic participation and direct climate income.

At the World Bank’s regional consultations this month, CCI stakeholders are asking the Bank to provide more funding to build climate-resilient infrastructure and to join the growing movement asking the United Nations to develop a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.

“Heat records are falling, jet streams are fragmenting, climate-related costs are rapidly piling up, and food systems are at risk. The future wellbeing and security of all people and nations will require a full, fair phaseout of coal, oil and gas,” said Robertson. “There can be no more excuses; we must leave polluting business models behind.”

CCI’s briefing note to the World Bank also recommends that non-market approaches be used as the critical drivers of climate ambition. These non-market approaches “should become multifaceted, multilateral cooperative agreements on food, energy, finance, and trade.”

Among those approaches, CCI strongly supports climate income policies that set effective, steadily rising carbon prices, with revenues returned to households and communities. CCI also supports the IMF’s proposal for an international floor price on carbon pollution.

“By setting priorities that align with integral human development, international financial institutions like the World Bank and IMF can be the catalysts for a just, equitable and livable world,” said Robertson.

CONTACT: Steve Valk, steve@citizensclimate.org; 404-769-7461.

Resources

• Evolving World Bank mission & practice to support climate-safe integral human development

• Non-market approaches as critical drivers of climate ambition

• Transform finance to make human experience climate-safe

• Non-market approaches as critical drivers of climate ambition

• Capital to Communities – The 2022 Reinventing Prosperity Report

• Global network of citizens urges World Bank Group to upgrade for fair and sustainable development

CCI on the Paris Summit for a New Global Financing Pact: Meaningful progress for relief to emerging economies, but more needed

JUNE 23, 2023 — As the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact winds up in Paris, Citizens’ Climate International sees meaningful progress being made to provide debt relief to developing nations struggling with the impact of climate change. That progress, hopefully, will set the stage for further commitments at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF in October and at the COP28 climate conference in December.

Structural reforms and immediate relief are needed to help emerging economies adapt to a changing climate and make a just transition to clean energy.

"Every human being has the right to a livable world,” said CCI Executive Director Joe Robertson. “To secure that livable world, rich nations and international financial institutions must transform their standard business models and prioritize support to vulnerable countries already facing unaffordable costs."

As Rachel Kyte, Dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University, put it in a recent op-ed, the challenge is “how to bolster investment in emerging markets and developing economies in a way that does not incur debt.”

One good piece of news from the summit was the announcement from the World Bank that it was launching a comprehensive toolkit to support countries after natural disasters. Among provisions in the toolkit is the option on new loans to pause payments on debt when disaster strikes “to allow countries to focus on meeting the urgent needs of their people instead of on loan repayments.”

“This is a much needed step in the right direction,” said Robertson, “and in the months ahead, we look forward to seeing wider reforms that structurally improve the debt and finance positions of vulnerable countries.”

Earlier this year, during the spring meetings at the World Bank and IMF, CCI members from 31 countries sent personal emails to their own countries’ executive directors at the World Bank Group asking the Bank. The letters asked for reforms that:

1. Support for the Bridgetown Initiative;

2. Advance human rights and gender equality;

3. Welcome meaningful, ongoing citizen and stakeholder input;.

4. Investigate direct delivery of funds to households, as a foundational support for climate-resilient development.

More good news at the summit: A group of wealthy nations pledged $2.7 billion to help Senegal roll out renewable energy, and Zambia secured a deal to restructure $6.3 billion owed to other governments.

“Considering that developing countries contributed the least to the climate crisis but suffer extreme impacts that can cost more than their entire economic output, these deals represent critical steps toward climate justice, though much more is needed,” said Robertson.

CONTACT: Steve Valk, steve@citizensclimate.org; 404-769-7461.

Resources

• Transform finance to make human experience climate-safe

• Non-market approaches as critical drivers of climate ambition

• Capital to Communities – The 2022 Reinventing Prosperity Report

• Global network of citizens urges World Bank Group to upgrade for fair and sustainable development

(Washington DC): From April 10 to April 16  Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the IMF will take place in Washington DC. Many of the events will be broadcast live. Three members of Citizens’ Climate International are delegates at these meetings. The public money at the World Bank Group belongs to the people of this planet. Thus, they are bringing the message that the public money at the World Bank be used for fair and sustainable development.

In the past two weeks, Citizens’ Climate International  members from 31 countries have sent personal emails to their own countries’ executive directors at the World Bank Group. As taxpayers and therefore stakeholders of the World Bank, they have requested that the World Bank:

1. Support the Bridgetown Initiative of the Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley. It is gaining support and beginning to work.

2. Ground all reforms in human rights and gender equality.

3. Give citizens the opportunity to share meaningful input into the reforms. This must go beyond the World Bank Civil Society meetings.

4. Investigate how money can be dispensed directly to households in need and then develops an implementation plan to do so.

Here is their full request with hyperlinks.

Background

The global financial system we have does not meet the needs of vulnerable and low-income populations, or the overall challenge of addressing the climate emergency. Things are about to change.

In 2022, the World Bank was tasked by the U.S. Treasury—its largest shareholder—with developing a comprehensive ‘Evolution Roadmap’. The World Bank has immense potential to shift financial flows towards a thriving and equitable world. As in the years after World War II, the World Bank is positioned to transform our world—this time with input from 100 more countries than were there in 1945.

On January 17, 2023, it was reported in Bloomberg News that 

“the World Bank is set to wield huge influence over how the energy transition is financed, potentially dwarfing the promised efforts of Wall Street giants like JPMorgan Chase & Co. or BlackRock Inc. to help eliminate emissions.”

At COP 27, PM Mia Mottley introduced a plan for 500 billion dollars of public money to be invested to unlock five trillion dollars in investment. For perspective, at COP 26, PM Mia Mottley cited a statistic that by November 2021 nine trillion dollars of public money was used to buffer economies globally during the COVID pandemic.

The World Bank Group / IMF  Spring meeting is one of several major meetings in the first half of 2023 as countries prepare for COP 28 in Dubai in late November.  There are also the  G7 leaders meetings in May, the mid-year United Nations in June, and The Summit For A New Global Financial Pact: Towards More Commitments To Meet The 2030 Agenda in Paris, France June 22 and 23, 2023. The Paris Summit is being co-hosted by President Macron of France and President Modi of India. Of note, India is also the G20 president this year.

About Us
Citizens’ Climate International (CCI) builds political will for a livable world by empowering citizens. We support active chapters in 51 countries and developing chapters in another 25 countries. Our sister organization Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) has been meeting with representatives at the World Bank since 2011. CCL  is also a founding member of the World Bank convened Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC). CCI’s executive director, Joseph Robertson, is a member of the CPLC Advisory Group.

QUOTES

Joseph Robertson (American)
Delegate at the World Bank Group IMF Spring Meeting
Executive Director, Citizens’ Climate International
“Every financial decision conditions future outcomes. The World Bank has an opportunity to change the game, with bold reforms that steer major financial flows toward a livable future of climate-resilient development. This is why stakeholders and communities around the world are calling on the World Bank to make sure future investments actively honor human rights, gender equality, civic participation, and the needs of the vulnerable. The very future of human dignity and wellbeing is at stake.”

Cathy Orlando (Canadian)
Delegate at the World Bank Group IMF Spring Meeting
Director of Programs, Citizens’ Climate International 
“As a citizen of Canada who has been going to the World Bank since 2011, I know that citizens are essential to unlocking finances for climate and development. It is our money and the World Bank does listen to us. We can diffuse the climate bomb and there are sufficient financial resources available to do so. Let’s be clear-eyed. The private sector finances the lionshare of the energy projects and the World Bank has the power to steer much of that finance away from fossil fuels and towards a thriving and equitable planet.”

David Michael Terungwa (Nigerian)
Delegate at the World Bank Group IMF Spring Meeting
Field Development Lead and African Regional Coordinator, Citizens’ Climate International 
“We need the World Bank Group and other international financial institutions to adopt reforms that uplift and directly empower the most vulnerable people in the world and end poverty while providing a thriving future for all. As for national governments: put a price on pollution and give the money back to the people. Canada has shown us the way.”

Knowledge Chimungunde
Citizens’ Climate International Leader, Harare, Zimbabwe
‘‘In the midst of fighting against the immense effects of climate change that are ravaging the needy and widely expanding the gap between the rich and the poor, there lies engaging the untapped and remote societies to tailor-make solutions that yield workable results. A local win is a global win, and this means we have scored a remarkable goal in the climate change agenda.’

Catherine Dawson
Citizens’ Climate International Leader, Devizes, UK
“We stand at a crossroads, here in the UK we have had a decade of gradually increasing extreme weather events causing floods, record temperatures and even houses igniting in a London suburb! Despite these warning signs our Government is still committed to maximizing the exploitation of fossil fuels. We need the World Bank Group to transform to make it fit for the challenges of the 21st century, enabling the investment needed in the technologies and services which will eliminate poverty, hasten the day when fossil fuels become a stranded asset and thus stop climate change, for all our futures.”

Rod Mitchell
National Chair, Citizens’ Climate Australia
“Australia’s vulnerability to global warming, our proximity to disappearing island nations and now a more climate friendly government are providing new impetus for change. However, industry and their financiers are slow to follow and plan to expand fossil fuel production. We need the World Bank to lead by example in directing its finances towards the zero-carbon solutions that sustain and conserve the planet we depend on.”

David Waltham
Citizens’ Climate International Leader, Marlborough, UK
“Campaigning at the national level for action on climate is hard work much of the time — governments and industry change only slowly. The right World Bank reforms would be an International step change, moving the whole world forward enormously and all at once.”

André Dumoulin,
Citizens’ Climate International, Panama
“We need clear climate actions guidelines and clear international Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) guidelines. The world needs the World Bank to urgently streamline the complex field of the climate goals and the ESG factors needed by companies and governments to answer the climate emergency, manage the energy transition and restore the world’s biodiversity.” 

Alejandro Jaimes,
Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Colombia
“Colombia is extremely vulnerable to the climate crisis, leading to several climate-induced loss and damage. We need the World Bank to show real commitment and ambition on loss and damage finance so that thousands of people who will be severely impacted can have the possibility to restore essential services, to recover and to build forward better. We need you to show us the money. Money that must not increase our debt as a Global South country.”

J.J. (Full name withheld for his personaly safety)
Citizens’ Climate International, Hinche, Haiti
“Le changement climatique frappe nos portes, agissons ensemble. Il faut souligner que certains  membres de CCI Francophone se trouvent en grandes difficultés en Haïti par rapport à la situation  sécuritaire”
“Climate change is knocking on our doors, let’s act together.It should be noted that some members of CCI Francophone are in great difficulty in Haiti in relation to the security situation.”

Stephanie de la O Pérez, Alba R. Peña Parra, Tamara Quiroz Guzman, Jorge R. Martínez,  Pérez Tejada, Garbiela Mena Breña, Javier Eduardo Preciado de Santos, Antonio Díaz Aranda
Climavivible Mexico
“We, as citizens, want the World Bank to reach its objectives of promoting long-term economic development and poverty reduction. We are tired of inequity and lack of transparency in financial processes and it’s about time to put money where it will do most good for people and the planet. In your hands lies a big key to unleashing a better future.”

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The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—the Synthesis Report for the 6th Assessment—is being described as “a survival guide for humanity”. That is because scientific evidence now makes clear: unchecked climate disruption will make it impossible to feed all of humankind, sustain ecosystems and biodiversity in all regions, and will lead to global destabilization, upheaval, and an acceleration of the ongoing mass extinction.

The good news is that the latest evidence reinforces previous findings that much of that devastation can be averted if we rapidly transition to energy systems that do not generate global heating pollution. The report is a “final warning” that action must begin now and spread everywhere, if everyday climate resilience and sustainable prosperity are to be achievable.

Citizens’ Climate International Executive Director Joe Robertson observed:

“The new IPCC Synthesis Report is the clearest signal to date: We cannot afford to keep investing in activities that destroy value; action to avert climate emergency is the best investment. The 2020s must be a time of unprecedented cooperation, inclusive economic development, and financial innovation—to align the human security of the most vulnerable with the fiscal stability of nations.”

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced a plan to massively fast-track climate action. He called for “a quantum leap in climate action“ and specified:

“Our world needs climate action on all fronts—everything, everywhere, all at once… Leaders of developed countries must commit to reaching net zero as close as possible to 2040… some have already set a target as early as 2035 [and] Credible, comprehensive, and detailed transition plans… must contain actual emissions cuts for 2025 and 2030.”

The Secretary-General proposed a G20 Climate Solidarity Pact that includes an Acceleration Agenda. This Agenda calls for an end to coal, net-zero electricity generation by 2035 for all developed countries and 2040 for the rest of the world, and to stop all licensing or funding of new oil and gas, as well as any expansion of existing oil and gas reserves.

These measures must accompany safeguards for the most vulnerable communities, scaling up finance and capacities for adaptation and loss and damage, and promoting reforms to ensure Multilateral Development Banks such as the World Bank provide more grants and loans and fully mobilize private finance.

The report finds that the economic benefits for people’s health from air quality improvements alone would be roughly the same, or possibly even larger than the costs of reducing or avoiding emissions. Climate-resilient development becomes progressively more challenging with every increment of warming. This is why the choices made in the next few years will play a critical role in deciding our future and that of generations to come.

To be effective, these choices need to be rooted in our diverse values, worldviews, and knowledge, including scientific knowledge, Indigenous Knowledge, and local knowledge. An inclusive approach will facilitate climate-resilient development and allow locally appropriate, socially acceptable solutions.

Finance, technology, and international cooperation are critical enablers for accelerated climate action. If climate goals are to be achieved, both adaptation and mitigation financing would need to increase many times over, and support positive innovations in the lives of far more people across the world.

Happily, the synthesis report is quite clear that there is sufficient global capital to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas pollution if existing barriers are reduced. Increasing finance to climate investments is important to achieve global climate goals. Governments, through public funding and clear signals to investors, are key in reducing these barriers. Investors, central banks, and financial regulators must also play their part.

Much of the trillions of dollars of financing for fossil fuels come from the private sector. Redirecting private sector finance away from fossil fuels is key. Policies such as an incrementally rising price on carbon pollution pricing with equal dividends to households, carbon border adjustment mechanisms, reforms at the World Bank, and climate risk disclosure rules for financial institutions would provide clear signals to redirect financial flows away from fossil fuels while not burdening the taxpayer.

Transformational progress is needed, and it is starting to happen. This includes the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S., described as ‘the most significant legislation in history to tackle the climate crisis’, and the European Union’s latest Green Deal Industrial Plan, a strategy to make the block the home of clean technology and green jobs.

At the same time, food security is reaching unprecedented levels, even as debt distress and other disruptions due to COVID, conflict, and climate, continue to threaten health and wellbeing across the world. There is no time to lose. Our children are watching, and we teach them by doing what needs to be done.

IPCC  resources

• AR6 – Synthesis Report Media Release

• AR6 – Synthesis Report YouTube Media Event

• AR6 – Synthesis Report - Address by Secretary-General António Guterres (Transcript)

• AR6 – Synthesis Report - Summary for Policy Makers

• AR6 – Synthesis Report Website

Contact

• To request further information on the Citizens’ Climate International perspective on the IPCC AR6, this Synthesis Report, or the general direction of climate crisis response, reach out to press@citizensclimateintl.org

Additional Resources

• Non-market approaches provide major opportunity for international cooperation to accelerate climate action

• Capital to Communities report recommends stakeholder participation to accelerate climate action

• Reforming international financial institutions can reduce harm, build resilience, and support sustainable development

• The Consultation on Priorities for a Livable Future invites people everywhere to share needs, priorities, and solutions

• Get more news from Citizens’ Climate International, including newsletters, press releases, and dispatches

Sudbury, Ontario—On Friday, July 15th, 2022 Canadians living in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta—provinces where the federal pollution pricing system applies—will receive their first quarterly Climate Action Incentive payment. Thus, Canada becomes the first country in the world to issue direct payments back to citizens from the pollution fee levied on carbon based fuels.

Starting in 2019, oil, coal, and natural gas distributors were charged a pollution fee of  $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), rising by $10 per year to $170 per tonne CO2e in 2030. The carbon fee for this pollution pricing policy is revenue-neutral. Between 2019 and 2021 the revenue was recycled back to the citizens in their income taxes “climate action incentive“.  Of note, 80% of households come out ahead, a finding confirmed by the Parliamentary Budget Office and Clean Prosperity.

This quarterly delivery, which replaces an annual credit from previous years, will ensure that Canadians receive payments on a more regular basis. The first payment will be a “double-up” payment that will return proceeds from the first two quarters of the 2022‒23 year (April–June, and July–September). Quarterly payments will follow in October 2022 and January 2023. Canadians can register for direct deposit to ensure that payment is fast, convenient and secure.

For the 2022‒23 fiscal year, a family of four will receive $745 in Ontario, $832 in Manitoba, $1,101 in Saskatchewan, and $1,079 in Alberta. Families in rural and small communities are eligible to receive an extra 10 percent.

For almost 12 years, Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada (CCL Canada) has been meeting monthly, sending out actions to volunteers on a monthly basis and diligently recording their actions and progress. They have been focused on  Canada enacting a carbon pricing policy where the revenue from the pollution fees is returned back to citizens. This policy has two names globally: carbon fee and dividend or climate income.

On October 16, 2018, just prior to PM Trudeau’s announcement that it will no longer be free to pollute in Canada, now-retired Albertan Senator Grant Mitchell said to them, “You are one of the most successful lobbying groups I have worked with because you are about to get what you lobbied for.”

In 2020, CCL Canada secured 1,249 signatures on a Parliamentary Petition sponsored by the Member of Parliament for Nickel Belt,  Marc Serre. The petition called for the revenues collected from Canada’s pollution pricing to be distributed as cheques or bank deposits. They were thrilled when the intention of  the government to do exactly that was announced in December 2020. 

Peer-reviewed research published in a  November 2021 article in Nature reported that it will be possible to reach a 2ºC target while also increasing wellbeing, reducing inequality, and alleviating poverty globally if countries enacted a carbon fee with an equal per capita dividend policy. Thus, with a few more policies in play in addition to carbon fees with dividends, the 1.5ºC goal could be reached while reducing inequality at the same time.

Currently, Austria is about to operationalize a carbon fee and dividend-like policy in the fall of 2022, and  Switzerland has a form of carbon fee and dividend.

Climate Leaders Around the World Praise Canada’s Carbon Pricing Policy

“A huge step — Canada may lead the world to understand that carbon fee and dividend is essential to solve the climate crisis.”
Jim Hansen
Director Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions Program
Columbia University Earth Institute

“Direct Climate Action Incentive payments to Canadians will enhance household incomes while the energy transition unfolds. The Canadian model is an example to other countries, both in the overall structure of the national pollution pricing plan and in the way it responds to persistent and detailed advocacy by Canadian citizens.”
Joseph Robertson
Executive Director
Citizens’ Climate International

“Receiving cheques from pollution pricing is literally a dream come true.  I want to take this moment to thank all the unsung heroes who made this happen in Canada. Your attention to the CCL-way and your Canadian politeness is why this happened.  WE DID IT!”
Cathy Orlando
National Director of Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) Canada
Director of Programs at Citizens’ Climate International (CCI)

“This is wonderful news for Australia as we begin to engage with our new government and they figure out how to use their better-than-expected mandate to address climate change. It’s great to have Canada leading the way as our society and political economy is similar to ours.”
Rod Mitchell
National Chair CCL Australia

“In every climate conversation we have, CCL Canada’s successes creating fair carbon pricing almost invariably arises. Canada provides us a beacon we work towards and a constant reminder of hope. You led the way and now we follow.”
Alexander Heavens
Chapter Lead, CCL Scotland

“Justice is a tool of leadership. Through leadership, justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done to all. The people of the Great White North have shown the world how to push on marching through the natural maple forests to the light at the end of the tunnel. CCL Canada, you did this without violence. CCI Ghana and CCI Africa are grateful for the precedent set.”
Kwamee Kwame, Frederick E Apana, Cedric Dzelu
On behalf of CCI Ghana

“This is groundbreaking for Canada and the entire world; carbon pricing is the most effective tool to make polluters pay and climate income will propel its universal adoption. The economies of the Global South have a working model for reference in planning for a just transition. The future is here.”
Rituraj Phukan
CCL Leader in India

“Delightful example of how to address the energy and cost of living crises for households in a way that solves the longer term climate crisis. This is counter intuitive for many politicians, so it’s impressive to see some EU member states starting down the same path.”
James Collis
Chairperson – Citizens’ Climate Europe

“We receive this news with great excitement and interest. Canada’s climate income policy marks a breakthrough in the fight against the climate crisis and provides an example of scientifically effective and socially just policies that can be implemented in other countries.”
Alba Pena and Jorge Martinez
Chapter co-leads, CCL Mexico

“Great news.  A check or direct transfer to citizens is the best way to make climate income visible and an essential tool for raising awareness and educating about the need to change our behavior to adapt to climate change. Canada shows us the way.”
Dr. Rafael Pinilla
CCL leader in Spain

“I always reference Canada wherever I talk about Carbon Pricing. It is evident of the efforts  Citizens’ Climate Lobby  Canada has put in championing for a price on pollution as it has come the first to pay her citizens Carbon dividends. It’s so encouraging and puts the fight for climate action to be achievable once citizens take the initiative through support from the government. Yes We Can.”
Cyprian Ogoti
CCI Volunteer, Kenya

“Cheering for Canadian citizens. Although France had implemented a carbon fee as well, recycling the revenues back to families was the crucially missing part. Very glad Canada is leading the way in climate action with such a smart, sustainable and fair policy. We aim for the same!”
Marin Chaveyriat
Chapter co-Lead, CCL France

“We are thrilled to hear the news from Canada! By implementing the “climate action incentive” it is setting an example and showing the world that it is possible to act on climate, hearing the science and the citizens, while protecting the economy and the communities. Hopefully this will inspire other countries to do the same.”
Laura Morales
Chapter leader, CCL Colombia

“Climate income cheques to the Canadian have significance that is more a symbolic than a monetary benefit. The Canadian example is set to be followed by the rest of the world  that will certainly help reduce emissions while paving the way to wider Loss and Damage justifiable claims by the victims of climate change. Moving forward, the marvelous  achievements of goals by CCL Canada is going to provide impetus to the global movement.”
Raza Qazi
Chapter Leader, CCL Lahore, Pakistan

About Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada

CCL Canada is a volunteer-driven and non-partisan organization. Since 2010, they  have been focused on advocating for an incrementally increasing price on carbon pollution, with 100% of the revenue returned directly and equitably to citizens.

Between 2010 and 2015, CCL Canada grew to 28 chapters in 70 ridings, conducted 3 national conferences, lobbied about 250 times, produced professional TV commercials and documented 865 times their words appeared in newspapers. Between 2016 and 2017 they grew to 36 chapters covering 85 ridings, conducted 5 national conferences, lobbied 489 times, recorded 1302 appearances in newspapers and sent 1,548 letters to parliament. In 2018 they grew to 38 chapters covering about 100 ridings, conducted 2 national conferences, 728 appearances in newspapers and recorded 525 letters sent to parliament.

In October 2018 they were 13th time lucky lobbying on Parliament Hill. That is when they  found out Canada would be enacting a climate income policy.

CCL Canada continued to lobby for improvements to the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.  In 2020, they  secured 1,249 signatures on a Parliamentary Petition sponsored by MP Marc Serre  that called for the revenues collected from Canada’s pollution pricing to be distributed as cheques or bank deposits. They were thrilled when the intention of  the government to do exactly that was announced in December 2020.

Currently, CCL Canada has 41 active chapters and their volunteers are continuing to lobby for improvements to the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.  As of July 13, 2022 CCL Canada volunteers  have recorded 54 lobbying sessions, 354 media publications, sent 349 letters to their MPs asking them  to act on the GHG pollution problem of the anaesthetic gas Desflurane and sent 321 letters to the G7 leaders asking them to “Steer Us To Safety”. They also  conducted a national conference in May called “Keeping it Polite.”

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• Media Contact: press@citizensclimateintl.org

• Media Event: Wed, June 29 (Details below)

SUDBURY, ON — The Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7), have just concluded their summit in Elmau, Germany. The G7 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. The summit was conducted at a critical juncture for the global community.

Citizens’ Climate International applauds the G7 declaration on open and inclusive climate club:

The G7 is committed to fighting climate change, but at the same time wants to ensure security of energy supply. The aim is to “accelerate a clean and just transition to climate neutrality while ensuring energy security,” according to a jointly released statement. Partnerships in the development of infrastructure and investments could also contribute to the goals of an “open and inclusive climate club”. 

This G7 declaration was also endorsed by the G7-2022 partner countries Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa.

The work of the G7 is not done in a vacuum.

The latest IPCC Report concluded it is now or never. That same report

“looked beyond technologies and demonstrates that while financial flows are a factor of three to six times lower than levels needed by 2030 to limit warming to below 2°C, there is sufficient global capital and liquidity to close investment gaps. However, it relies on clear signaling from governments and the international community, including a stronger alignment of public sector finance and policy.”

Last year, 450 major financial institutions committed to aligning the $130 trillion they manage to science-based net-zero targets in the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net-Zero.

Governments must use policy instruments to successfully mobilize private sector financing at that scale. At the same time, governments must address the affordability crisis.

“Governments around the world can create an equitable and resilient world if they enact evidence-based and socially-just policies that will redirect financial flows away from fossil fuels and towards a resilient and equitable future,” says Cathy Orlando, a Canadian and director of Programs at Citizens’ Climate International .

Canada’s price on carbon pollution is highly efficient and results in progressive outcomes for most taxpayers. The fact is most Canadians living in the provinces with the federal carbon pollution fee (Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta) come out ahead. The policy is positioning Canada to be a leader in the emerging climate-resilient economy of this century.

”The world should look at how Canada prices carbon pollution”, says David Michael Terungwa, a Nigerian and Field Development Lead and Africa Regional Coordinator  for Citizens’ Climate International. “It reduces income inequality and greenhouse gas pollution from the burning of fossil fuels at the same time”.

It should be noted that the major civil society groups engaged with the G7 including the B7 (business), C7 (civil society), S7 (science), T7 (think tank), W7 (women) and Y7 (youth) that work within the G7 had carbon pricing or redirecting financial flows in their key climate  demands. For full details go here: https://citizensclimate.earth/2022/06/22/laser-talk-powerful-carbon-pricing-demands-to-the-g7-and-g20-from-civil-society-groups/

Just prior to the G7, the Sustainable Markets Initiative—a collection of more than 400 CEOs from every sector and chaired by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales—put forth a three-pronged path to accelerate the transition to a sustainable future that includes carbon pricing, optimization of the the impact of public funds, and government mandates that offer the private sector clarity and stability.
https://a.storyblok.com/f/109506/x/078a651725/smi-ft-ad-final.pdf

Lastly, almost 1,200 global climate advocates from 80 countries sent Citizens’ Climate International letters to the G7 leaders asking the leaders to:

1. Rapidly redirect financial flows away from fossil fuels and towards an equitable and resilient future. These policies must align with the Net Zero Scenario from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

2. Negotiate the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to complement the Paris Agreement and financially support a rapid, equitable and managed phase-out of fossil fuels.

3. Finance successful adaptation and resilience measures to keep vulnerable communities safe from preventable harm.

The letter in its entirety and the current number of letters can be found here: https://citizensclimate.earth/2022/06/12/g7-leaders-steer-us-to-safety/

“We are in a climate emergency. Civil Society networks, business and climate advocates globally are now collectively pushing for governments to enact policies to redirect financial flows towards a resilient and equitable future,” says Orlando. “History had its eyes on the G7. Their Climate Club will need to be more than just a ‘talking shop’ and deliver concrete actions.”

Citizens’ Climate International (CCI) and the G7: Citizens’ Climate International (CCI) has been engaging within the Civil Society Networks that send demands to the G7 leaders since 2018.  Our primary policy focus is carbon pricing and border carbon adjustments and more generally financial flows. The policies we support must be rooted in human rights and gender justice.

From January 2022 to May 2022, a dozen CCI members from ten countries (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Nigeria,  Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States) worked within and monitored carefully several civil society networks representing over 300 global organizations that sent demands to the G7 in Germany this year.

Post G7-Summit Media Event

Representatives from around the world in Citizens’ Climate International’s network will be available to respond to the outcomes of the G7 Summit, their Steer Us to Safety Campaign and key climate demands from the G7’s Civil Society networks.

• When: Wednesday, June 29, 2022 7:30 am EDT / 11:30 am UTC

• Convert time here: https://dateful.com/time-zone-converter

• Where: https://citizensclimate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvcO2urTIsGdzWCCjD3g0DfCyQhRPM-lhC

Panelists:

1. Joseph Roberston – Executive Director at Citizens’ Climate International

2. Cathy Orlando –  Director of Programs at Citizens’ Climate International

3. David Michael Terungwa – Field Development Lead and Africa Regional Coordinator for Citizens’ Climate International volunteer chapters across the continent.

4. Rod Mitchell – National Chair of Citizens’ Climate Lobby Australia

5. Kohei Noda – Citizens’ Climate International Lead – Tokyo Japan

6. Alex Krantz – Citizens’ Climate International Summer (Canadian)

7. More T.B.A.

Citizens’ Climate International
Citizens’ Climate International (CCI) is a sister group to Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) USA. CCL has operated since 2007 in the USA and 2010 in Canada. CCI is organized in 76 countries with almost 20,000 supporters outside the US and 152 active chapters in 52 countries. CCL and CCI have civil society status at the G7, the G20, the World Bank, and observer status at UNFCCC COP meetings. The organization is a founding strategic partner of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, which brings together leaders from the public sector, the private sector, and civil society to investigate and promote carbon pricing.

Websites

• Citizens’ Climate International: https://citizensclimate.earth/

• Citizens’ Climate Lobby Australia: https://au.citizensclimatelobby.org/

• Citizens’ Climate Lobby Belgium: https://www.citizensclimatelobby.be/

• Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada: https://canada.citizensclimatelobby.org/

• Citizens’ Climate  Europe: https://citizensclimateeurope.org/

• Citizens’ Climate Lobby France: https://www.citizensclimatelobby.fr/page/689489-notre-solution

• Citizens’ Climate Lobby Germany: https://www.ccl-d.org/

• Citizens’ Climate Lobby Japan: https://japan.citizensclimatelobby.org/

• Citizens’ Climate Lobby Sweden: https://www.klimatsvaret.se/

• Citizens’ Climate Lobby UK: https://citizensclimatelobby.uk/

• Citizens’ Climate Lobby USA: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/

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Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued its report on Mitigation of Climate Change. The report builds on decades of accumulating scientific evidence, and is formally endorsed by nearly 200 nations. The report is the work of 278 authors from 65 countries, plus 354 contributing authors, building on over 18,000 cited references and addressing a total of 59,212 expert and government review comments.

This comprehensive science report finds:

• We are not, as a global community, eliminating global heating pollution rapidly enough to avoid a state of pervasive, persistent climate emergency.

• The technological, policy, and financial resources exist now to allow us to meet this great global challenge, just in time.

• Mitigation actions can build the most momentum when they correspond to improved everyday human development conditions.

A key finding in the Summary for Policy Makers, published today, is that global heating emissions are still rising:

B.2 Net anthropogenic GHG emissions have increased since 2010 across all major sectors globally. An increasing share of emissions can be attributed to urban areas. Emissions reductions in CO2 from fossil fuels and industrial processes, due to improvements in energy intensity of GDP and carbon intensity of energy, have been less than emissions increases from rising global activity levels in industry, energy supply, transport, agriculture and buildings. (high confidence)

That means key levers of action, like energy efficiency in cities, climate-smart agriculture, and clean energy systems, are not yet being deployed rapidly enough or widely enough to stop global heating. This needs to change, urgently, if we are to avoid persistent, pervasive climate emergency.

• Last year’s report from Working Group I on the Physical Science Basis for the 6th Assessment revealed that only in the most ambitious scenario of immediate and sustained climate action can we hold global heating to 1.5ºC or lower by the year 2100.

• The report from Working Group II on Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, published five weeks ago, found impacts are pervasive and compounding, vulnerability to climate shocks is growing, and the remaining window for successful climate resilient development is closing fast. 

• Working Group III notes the need for high ambition, high integrity, transparency, and knowledge-sharing, to consolidate, expand, and sustain mitigation efforts.

Mitigating climate risk requires mitigating climate change itself, because climate disruption is disrupting the natural systems, with bigger-than-market value, that sustain the biosphere. Each new IPCC report is finding growing threats to food security and fresh water supplies.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been eloquent and succinct in framing the science: 

• He characterized the Physical Science report as “a red alert for humanity.” 

• He described the Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability report as “an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership.”

• He is now writing that the Mitigation report is evidence of “broken climate promises” and a “yawning gap between climate pledges, and reality.”

Mitigation is a decision to act to reduce risk. CCI Executive Director Joe Robertson says of the Mitigation report: 

“Our moment of existential choice has arrived. The enabling fabric of natural systems that gave rise to our species, to all that human beings have created and hold dear, is now at risk of irreversible destabilization. This report is an evidence-based call to commit all of our talent and resources to building a climate resilient future, without further delay.

“We have the scientific understanding, the technology, the logistics of global exchange and knowledge-sharing, required to address this challenge. Our best future is waiting in policy, planning, innovation, and finance that are inclusive, sustainable, and climate-smart. There is no moral, technical, or practical excuse for not doing all that we can to avoid preventable, ongoing disaster.” 

The IPCC highlights key elements of the report:

1. Global emissions need to peak before 2025, at the latest.

2. Financial flows for climate action are “three to six times lower than levels needed by 2030,” but “there is sufficient global capital and liquidity to close investment gaps.

3. Unlocking mainstream climate capital will require “clear signalling from governments and the international community, including a stronger alignment of public sector finance and policy.”

4. Decarbonization efforts have a strong correlation to sustainable development, but the details matter, so stakeholder engagement and context-specific approaches are needed.

The report comes at a time when the world reckons like never before with the question of how rapidly we can eliminate climate pollution from our energy systems. 

• New research shows the European Union can eliminate dependence on Russian gas by 2025, without building new gas infrastructure or expanding coal use. 

• CCI has joined the campaign to end further investment in Russian oil and gas, and to phase out fossil fuels entirely.

• Continuing to explore and expand future fossil fuel production increases the chances we will see catastrophic food insecurity and related political destabilization. 

• In a recent Resilience Intel brief, we reported that “The most rational way forward is to rapidly move away from fossil fuels,” outlining technologies and financial resources that can be deployed to make it happen. 

No new fossil fuel infrastructure can be built, if we are going to avoid unmanageable climate emergency. Energy systems transformation must move at unprecedented pace, and reach every part of the global economy. The most marginalized communities need affordable access to climate-smart systems for energy, industry, transport, finance, and food.

Both advanced and developing economies need to make sure everyday price signals move us away from destabilizating pollutants. CCI supports climate income as a people-centered strategy for pricing carbon pollution. Such policies: 

• Apply a steadily rising fee at the point where carbon-emitting fuels enter the economy (the mine, well, or port of entry); 

• Return all revenues to households, in equal shares, safeguarding the most vulnerable and sustaining everyday economic activity, while polluters take on the true costs of their business model; 

• Adjust at the border, allowing climate income countries to join the club of nations trading freely to achieve a climate-smart future. 

We also recognize the power of other “non-market approaches” to cooperative decarbonization, under Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement—including financial regulation, development finance conditionalities, climate bonds, and special drawing rights—as climate action accelerators.

In the coming weeks and months, CCI local chapters and national and regional networks will be meeting with public officials to deliver this call for fast-moving, people-driven transformation, in Brussels, Ottawa, Abuja, and around the world. In April, we will hold an Earth Day Citizens’ Forum to build momentum for our first global Week of Action in June, to build political will for accelerated, inclusive, just, and transformational climate resilient development.

STATEMENTS 

Cathy Orlando, CCI Program Director:

“I was alarmed by the IPCC 2007  Report. Thereafter I redirected my energies to protecting the future for my three daughters. By 2010, I determined that I needed to focus on championing climate income in Canada. Back then, I intuitively knew it would be good for Canada and the world. I now know with great certainty that climate income is a powerful tool to reduce GHGs and income inequality at the same time. I have listened to experts, including the IPCC, 28 Nobel Prize economists and thousands of economists globally.  I am grateful that my government of Canada enacted this policy in 2018. I hope the world takes a good hard look at what Canada has to offer in terms of our carbon pricing policy."

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David Michael Terungwa, CCI Field Development Lead and Africa Coordinator:

“Mitigating climate change impact in Africa requires urgent attention. The good part is; we know what to and we have the solutions to help build climate  resilience especially in Africa. Climate income policy provides an immediate and effective solution to helping people build resilience while reducing emissions. Sadly, we know what to do but we are not doing it.”

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Isatis M. Cintrón Rodríguez, CCI Board Secretary and Regional Coordinator for Latin America:

“Climate change is moving faster than us, there is no room for error if we are to keep the survival target of 1.5ºC within our grasp. Let the protection of the Small Island Developing States be the litmus test to our promise to climate change. Although some progress has been made in climate-friendly technologies, this report shows that what is been done is not enough, our emissions have kept rising by 1.3% each year during the last decade! The future lies in the decisions we make today. This is the moment, how are we going to face it? We have a tremendous opportunity to unlock a much more powerful, sustainable, just, and innovative society. The only way forward is together. A climate-aligned development that centers people and disrupts the fossil fuels of the past that fuel war, climate chaos, and inequity. Every decision we make needs to reflect reality, the rest of our lives is going to be dominated by climate change and we must act accordingly.”

—

Myra L. Jackson, Geoversiv Senior Advisor on Whole Earth Civics and Member of the UN Harmony with Nature Expert Platform:

“Without delay, the global action called for necessitates intelligent social cohesion in the form of active citizen engagement focused on a fulsome withdrawal from the fossil fuel economy. This focused societal effort must include a vigorous partnership with national governments to activate an unbridled diplomatic effort toward global cooperation with an aim to support a mechanism to fully withdraw from fossil fuels and activate a community-led restoration and regeneration corps to restore healthy soils and build caring economies across the globe, watershed-by-watershed. A human response based on science-based information and appropriate indigenous wisdom toward a future in cooperation with Earth systems. Many nations have gone inward to address emergencies within their own borders and have withdrawn from multilateral diplomacy. We need a return to global cooperation with the goal of unleashing social cohesion activated to make the life-style changes needed to end the fossil fuel economy and achieve 1.5ºC or lower by the year 2100.”

—

Rob Haw, CCL Canada volunteer, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (ret.):

“No one gets to choose the times they’re born into, yet if circumstances change we must respond accordingly if we’re to survive. End the fossilized blundering-on while wishing fervently for what we had, when what-we-had is a wish that can no longer be granted. Analogous to the brave Ukrainians, it’s time for nations to stand up and take resolute action on climate.”

—

Gloria Kasang Bulus, Bridge That Gap Initiative, Nigeria:

“We can no longer live in denial. All hands must be on deck to change things as soon as possible. Our policies must speak to the current realities; they must be effective and implemented at full scale. Our focus must be on the solutions, while still bearing in mind that there is a worsening problem that requires urgent attention. Equity and justice must be priorities, if we truly understand that the time is ticking too fast, for all of us.”

PRESS FOLLOW-UP

• Access the Report and related information, here.

• CCI is preparing a global consultation on the Zero Preventable Harm Global Goal on Adaptation.

• CCI will hold its first global Week of Action in June.

• Join us April 22 for an Earth Day CCI Press Briefing.

• For more information, or to request an interview with one of our senior staff, please reach out to press@citizensclimateintl.org

Additional Resources

SCIENCE

• ‘Code red’ IPCC report warns increased danger from climate change is baked in – Resilience Intel (on IPCC Working Group I)

• IPCC finds window for successful climate risk reduction and adaptation is closing – Citizens’ Climate International (on IPCC Working Group II)

• Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change – IPCC Working Group III

• Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate – IPCC

• Special Report on Climate Change and Land – IPCC

UNITED NATIONS

• Stockholm+50: The health of Nature shapes our fate – Citizens' Climate International

• United Nations creates Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy, and Finance – Citizens' Climate International

• UN Crisis Group outlines food, energy & finance actions to build peace – Resilience Intel

• The Glasgow Climate Pact – Key Outcomes from COP26 | UNFCCC

RISK

• Degradation of Earth systems is dangerous – Resilience Intel

• Climate emergency is a threat to international peace & security – Resilience Intel

• Compounding climate pressures will force the greening of capital – Resilience Intel

TRANSITION

• The latest IPCC report has a lot to say about carbon fee and dividend | Citizens' Climate Lobby

• Go green at wartime speed – Resilience Intel

• Report finds EU can eliminate Russian gas faster than thought – Resilience Intel

• Smart food security cooperation needed to stop Putin – Resilience Intel

• Global hub launched to help countries slash methane emissions – Climate Home News

FINANCE

• Financial integration & inclusion needed to get best results from Glasgow outcomes – Resilience Intel

• US financial regulators warn climate disruption could destabilize entire system – Resilience Intel

• Good Food Finance is key to a healthy, sustainable future – Resilience Intel

• SEC.gov | SEC Proposes Rules to Enhance and Standardize Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors

• In doubling adaptation finance, 'champions' aim to avoid repeat of $100bn failure – Climate Home News

EVENTS

• Earth Day Citizens’ Forum 2022 – Citizens' Climate International

• Bonn Climate Change Conference - June 2022 | UNFCCC

• Week of Action to Build Political WIll – Citizens’ Climate International

• Climate Change Conferences (Summer 2022) | Citizens' Climate Lobby

Citizens’ Climate International has joined more than 450 organizations in 50 countries in calling for a ban on the import of Russian oil and gas, which provide funding for Vladimir Putin’s war machine. We also join in the call to move toward the phase out of all climate-destabilizing fuels.

We have made clear we view the Putin regime’s illegal invasion of Ukraine as an unacceptable atrocity. In that statement, we wrote:

We stand with civil society allies and partners and call on all law-abiding nations to counter disinformation, stand together, and work to contain this threat. In this age of planetary crisis, when we have so much knowledge and technical capacity at our disposal, we need to be able to work together, as a diverse international community, to develop our societies sustainably, peacefully, and with respect for one another’s humanity.

The people of Ukraine have an inalienable right to live free from terror and military invasion. All people have an interest in making sure that right is actively honored and secure. The safety, security, and sustainable wellbeing of all people everywhere depends on bringing an end to this illegal invasion and holding those responsible fully accountable to the rule of law.

Any flow of funds to the Putin regime is effectively financing war crimes, mass murder, and the nullification of international peace and security. That funding must stop.

We also wish to note here the recent report of IPCC Working Group II on Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, which found that the window for successful climate resilient development is rapidly closing. Building in new and prolonged dependency on fossil fuels will close that window and lead to unprecedented proliferating risks and preventable human suffering.

We must do what we can to speed the transition to a zero emissions, climate resilient future of inclusive, sustainable development. Everything we, as human beings, value depends on it.

The report of IPCC Working Group II on Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability is another red alert regarding the danger of steadily worsening climate impacts. The narrow window of opportunity is rapidly closing for successful mitigation of and adaptation to global climate destabilization. Starting to adapt only when emergency arrives will be too late. Failure will mean widespread human suffering on an unprecedented scale.

Read the Report

Among the key takeaways: 

1. We have entered the era of human-induced losses and damages due to climate change, with losses observed in ecosystems across all regions of the world. 

2. Climate disruption threatens human health, as well as economic security and the stability of communities, institutions, and nations. 

3. Health impacts—including trauma from extreme events, food and water scarcity, and spillover pathogens—are happening in every region. 

4. Approximately 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in contexts that are highly vulnerable to climate change, with forced displacement a growing risk.

5. Inaction is not only irresponsible but also dangerous: adapting to climate impacts will become increasingly impossible without faster emission cuts. 

6. Delaying action to mitigate climate change leads to compounding risks, and eventually to irreversible damage. 

7. Relying on techno-fixes alone to solve the crisis risks overshooting warming beyond 1.5°C, with dangerous costs for people and biodiversity.

8. Misinformation and active resistance to climate action from the oil and gas industry have made us more vulnerable.

9. Participatory civic processes and engagement with stakeholders are needed to ensure adaptation measures are effective and do not lead to maladaptation. 

The Summary for Policy Makers concludes with this stark warning:

Any further delay in concerted anticipatory global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.

The report’s urgent warning is informed by observed evidence that nonlinear compounding risks and impacts proliferate as global heating advances. That means even where we succeed with incremental steps, failing to reach the required level of early action and high ambition will mean facing unmanageable emergencies. Some regions are already experiencing both soft and hard barriers to adaptation.

Now is the time for urgent action to reduce risk, build resilience & protect people.

The report cites evidence (SPM.B.1.4) of already widespread and worsening direct health impacts on people and populations:

• Climate change has adversely affected physical health of people globally (very high confidence) and mental health of people in the assessed regions (very high confidence).

• Climate change impacts on health are mediated through natural and human systems, including economic and social conditions and disruptions (high confidence).

• In all regions extreme heat events have resulted in human mortality and morbidity (very high confidence).

• The occurrence of climate-related food-borne and water-borne diseases has increased (very high confidence).

• The incidence of vector-borne diseases has increased from range expansion and/or increased reproduction of disease vectors (high confidence).

• Animal and human diseases, including zoonoses, are emerging in new areas (high confidence).

Each of these areas of health impact exacerbates cost and risk, not only for those directly affected, but for whole societies.

As an organization devoted to the right of people to actively contribute to sustainable economies that help to secure a livable climate future, we celebrate the recognition that citizen engagement is critical. Effective adaptation planning means considering long-term risks and impacts, to properly gauge the cost effectiveness and high priority of acting early to mitigate, adapt, and build resilience. 

The Working Group II report was produced by 270 authors from 67 countries, including 47 coordinating authors, 184 lead authors, and 39 review editors. 43% of the authors were from developing countries and 41% were women. The report also draws on the work of 675 contributing authors and over 34,000 cited references. Before reaching the final product, Working Group II received a total of 62,418 expert and government review comments.

In 2022, CCI will be working to integrate a long-term global adaptation standard of zero preventable harm into our work, including: 

• Civic engagement around locally led adaptation and contributions to global mitigation; 

• Resilience intelligence reporting on Reinventing Prosperity and climate-smart finance;

• Raising awareness about the value-building interactions between mitigation, adaptation, and resilience efforts; 

• A global online consultation on a Zero Preventable Harm Global Goal on Adaptation. 

STATEMENTS

Cathy Orlando, CCI Program Director, also serving as Women7 Advisor for the 2022 G7 Germany Summit:

“Mitigating and adapting to climate change requires evidence-based actions that are rooted in a human-rights based approach and gender-justice framework. We must ensure that financial policies, including but not limited to carbon pricing, subsidy reform, border carbon adjustments and special drawing rights do not burden or overlook women globally, in all their diversity.“

Rituraj Phukan, Founder, Indigenous People's Climate Justice Forum and CCI National Coordinator for India:

“The report points out disproportionate impacts and the importance of indigenous, traditional and local knowledge in formulating responses, adaptation and resilience. The indigenous people of northeast India rank among the worst affected and my understanding is that chronic underdevelopment in the region should be central to any conversation about climate justice. The ‘Pakke Tiger Reserve 2047 Declaration on Climate Change Resilient and Responsive Arunachal Pradesh’ from November 2021, the first of its kind by any state government in the country, focuses on a climate resilient development solutions framework mooted by this new IPCC report, and other vulnerable states need to follow up with proactive policy decisions.”

Myra Jackson, Geoversiv Senior Advisor on Whole Earth Civics and Member of the UN Harmony with Nature Expert Platform:

“Bangladesh's leadership of the Climate Vulnerable Forum emerged as a significant political force on climate change issues at COP26, and beyond the summit. Bangladesh scientists made significant contributions to the Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) process for building adaptation capacity of local vulnerable communities from the bottom up, enabling civic engagement. This led to an agreement at COP26 for member states to update NDC plans to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, annually vs in 5 year gaps. While voluntary, many countries are expected to honor this agreement and update their NDCs by COP27.”

David Michael Terungwa, CCI Field Development Lead and Africa Coordinator:

“The IPCC report on Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability calls for more sincere and urgent climate action. The science is now clear on the need to rapidly move away from fossil fuels. Governments and the private sector know what needs to be done and must go far beyond rhetoric. Africa as one of the hotspots needs help. This means developed nations need to urgently fulfil their financial obligations to help in resilience building and energy transition, while also reducing their own emissions.”

PRESS FOLLOW-UP

• Citizens’ Climate Nigeria will hold a small, focused roundtable for press on Friday, 4 March 2022.

• CCI is preparing a global consultation on the Zero Preventable Harm Global Goal on Adaptation.

• For more information, or to request an interview with one of our senior staff, please reach out to press@citizensclimateintl.org

The unprovoked military aggression of Russia against Ukraine is a clear violation of numerous articles and provisions of the United Nations Charter, which establishes a universal shared mission to “maintain international peace and security” and “develop friendly relations among nations”, and which commits all members to “settle their international disputes by peaceful means”.

Article 2 explicitly states that:

“All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”

Violating the UN Charter with military aggression risks subverting the universality of binding international law. The destabilization of international law makes it harder to peacefully resolve disputes and to solve the biggest challenges of our time. Without global agreements to commit to, require, and act on a mutual obligation to prevent dangerous human-caused climate emergency, deviant actors may delay progress until it is too late to get to safety.

We are concerned about the human-scale impact on innocent people, across Ukraine, in the wider region, and around the world. The military invasion of Ukraine directly threatens food security in many countries across the world, and puts at risk carefully crafted mainstays of international peace and security.

The use disinformation as a weapon of war undermines the basic human right to evidence and informed decision-making. Attacks on civil society inside Russia deny the Russian people the ability to fully express and defend their own humanity. We have seen evidence of this today, as those Russians courageous enough to gather in protest of Putin’s war were detained.

We share the view of climate action allies in the region, who wrote today:

“Democracy, a strong civil society and peaceful diplomatic relations with neighboring countries are the key to the development of a modern state.”

At CCI, we value the humanity of every person as paramount. Humanity must always be a higher value than any use of power for personal or factional interest. We value multilateral cooperation under structured and agreed international law as vital to securing a livable future.

We stand with civil society allies and partners and call on all law-abiding nations to counter disinformation, stand together, and work to contain this threat. In this age of planetary crisis, when we have so much knowledge and technical capacity at our disposal, we need to be able to work together, as a diverse international community, to develop our societies sustainably, peacefully, and with respect for one another’s humanity.

The people of Ukraine have an inalienable right to live free from terror and military invasion. All people have an interest in making sure that right is actively honored and secure. The safety, security, and sustainable wellbeing of all people everywhere depends on bringing an end to this illegal invasion and holding those responsible fully accountable to the rule of law.

Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published the Working Group I Report for the 6th Assessment. The nearly 4,000-page report, endorsed by 195 governments and representing global scientific consensus, was described by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as “code red for humanity”.

The report found that major climate disruption is already happening, with impacts affecting every region around the world. Some of these impacts are irreparable, with vital natural capital already lost. The Arctic Ocean my be ice-free at least once in the next 3 decades. We will cross 1.5ºC of global average surface temperature rise between 2030 and 2040.

According to the most advanced science we have, only in the most ambitious scenario do we still have a chance to limit global heating to 1.5ºC at the end of the century. In that scenario, global heating will still rise to at least 1.6ºC, before coming back down, if all of the right choices are made as quickly and pervasively as possible.

CCI Executive Director Joe Robertson says:

The report from IPCC Working Group I, released today, raises the most unwavering and undeniable alarm yet on the threats we face from uncontrolled climate disruption.

As a global advocacy organization, we support citizen volunteer advocates in more than 70 countries. Many of them are already facing serious risks, related to weather, food, conflict, or economic stresses, driven by climate change. The most basic rights, and everyday access to quality of life and opportunity for people everywhere, are at stake. 

What this report makes clear is that legitimacy itself will soon come to depend on how effectively a nation or an institution is able to stop making this global emergency worse.

The first installment of the IPCC 6th Assessment Report finds human activity has pushed Earth’s climate into a pattern of destabilization “unprecedented” for thousands of years. Atmospheric concentrations are now higher than they have been at any time since our species first came into existence.

Citizens’ Climate International exists to empower people of all backgrounds to actively participate in building political will for a livable climate future. To achieve that, we will need people in communities, civic leaders, national leaders, and business, to work together to ensure policy, practice, investment, and our everyday aspirations, all align with a future that is healthy for people and for the natural systems we depend on.

• Read the CCI-supported Resilience Intel brief on the Working Group I report here.

• Read more about CCI’s work toward COP26 here.

• Access all of the IPCC’s AR6 resources here.

To follow up on this press release, contact press(at)citizensclimateintl(dot)org