COP 29 and The Call for a Fossil Fuel Treaty to Manage a Global Transition to Safe, Renewable & Affordable Energy for All

Left to Right: Epi Bodhi, Randa Solick, and Judy Geer at People’s Climate March, September 21, 2014, New York City, Photo, Nancy Price
 

by Cindy Piester and Nancy Price

Here are two short films of the People’s Climate March: “Indigenous Peoples at the People’s Climate Summit” Link https://www.youtube.com and a 11-minute film of the March https://www.youtube.com

Cindy and I also strongly recommend this 13 minute TED talk, “The bad math of the fossil fuel industry” https://www.ted.com by Tzeporah Berman.

In the November eNews, COP 29, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as the Conference of Parties (COP), meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, was highlighted under the title: uniting climate justice, accountability and action. https://wilpfus.org  Beginning in 1992, governments at these annual COP meetings negotiated climate change goals and reported on their progress. 

However, though 196 countries negotiated the 2015 Paris Agreement at COP 21 to limit global warming to at least 1.5 degrees Centigrade or no more than 2.0 degrees C., coal, oil and gas were not mentioned.  Finally, the 2023 COP 28 agreement called for a "transition away" from fossil fuels for energy, when earlier attempts to include fossil fuels were unsuccessful. Unfortunately, 2023 breached the 1.5 C average temperature every month, and 2024 was even hotter. Despite this, Saudi Arabia forced a very disappointing roll back on last year’s agreement to transition away from fossil fuels and it wasn’t included in COP 29’s final document. 

How over the years could increasing global climate catastrophes be ignored – torrential rains, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, rising sea levels, increased temperatures, droughts, hunger, and increased migration and conflicts – with great loss of life, homes, jobs, impacts on health, and on local and state economies? Yet, all oil producing nations, except Columbia, are continuing fossil fuel production.

At key focus of this 2024 COP 29 was finance for Loss and Damage and Mitigation and Adaptation. Millions of dollars are needed for poor and less-developed countries to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect lives and livelihoods from extreme climate events. There needs to be a global agreement on a financial facility to provide technical assistance and manage payments to developing countries suffering from the most catastrophic climate events, despite contributing almost nothing to carbon emissions. 

On the final day $1.3 trillion was suggested by the G77 countries as an acceptable annual minimum. However, only $250 billion was offered that the Low Income Countries considered an insult. Now, COP 29 was on the verge of collapse. After the meeting was extended, 39 member nations of the Association of Small Island Countries followed by 45 of the Least Developed Countries marched out of the negotiations. Finally, the Global North Countries raised funding to $300 billion and this amount was gaveled in by the COP President without any discussion. In the end funding specifically for Loss and Damages was not voted on. What will happen at COP 30 in Brazil in 2025?  

Now’s the Time to Join the Call for a Fossil Fuel Treaty 

“We currently have enough fossil fuels to progressively transition off of them, says Tzeporah Berman,” chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative, “but the industry continues to expand oil, gas and coal production and exploration.”  

She presents the case for phase-out of fossil fuels about and talks about the illusions keeping true progress from being made for a just transition to safe, renewable and affordable energy and offers a realistic path and roadmap forward to: 

● halt expansion of fossil fuels

● manage a fair and equitable phase-out of coal, oil and gas, and

● lay the foundations for a just energy transition in which no worker, community, or region is sacrificed and left behind.

Support for the Treaty is growing around the world! What you can do!

Find a wealth of information at https://fossilfueltreaty.org 

Discuss in your branch how to organize with local allies to have your city, county and state endorse the Treaty. 

Consult the Resources for the Frequently Asked Questions, Campaign Materials, Took Kits, Theory of Change and Movement Building, and much more. 

Learn how the Treaty impacts the supply of fossil fuels. 

Read New and Emerging Research Reports, and Briefings. 

Look at the List of Endorsements that keeps on increasing governments, cities, WHO and health institutions, 101 Nobel laureates, elected officials, civil society organizations, academics and scientists, Faith letter, and youth. Don’t forget to endorse the Treaty as an individual. 

Please email Nancy Price and Cindy Piester at EarthDemocracy@WILPFUS.org if you have questions about how to plan a local campaign.