WARSAW, POLAND, November 21, 2013 – Today, one day before the planned conclusion of the
Warsaw UN climate talks, hundreds of individuals from all continents
representing social movements, trade unions and non-governmental organizations
– including Friends of the Earth International - walked out of the UN climate
conference in protest.
“Polluters
and corporations dominated this conference with their empty talk, so we walked
out in protest. Polluters talk, we walk,” said Jagoda Munic, Chairperson of
Friends of the Earth International.
“While
people around the world are paying with their lives and livelihoods, and the
risk of runaway climate change draws closer, we simply could not sit by this
egregious inaction. Corporate profits should not come before peoples' lives,”
said Jagoda Munic.
“People and communities around the world who are
already implementing climate-safe, local energy systems are the real climate
leaders. Together, we must now apply political pressure so that our governments
follow these leaders instead of the corporate polluters,” she added.
Friends
of the Earth International witnessed at these talks outrageous inaction by
developed country governments – and in particular the 'Dirty Four': Australia,
Canada, Japan and the US.
Meanwhile,
the Polish host government actively helped corporate polluters such as coal
companies to influence the talks. The European Union also disappointed, with
only minimal ambition and insufficient climate finance proposals.
In
Warsaw, industrialised countries’ governments did
nothing to cut emissions or provide real finance to tackle climate change. In
addition, they continued to avoid their responsibility to prevent climate
catastrophe.
“Developed
nations governments have been hijacked by corporate polluters and their
positions prevented even a minimal progress of the talks. Developed country
governments actions in Warsaw demonstrate that they are listening to polluters
such as Shell and ArcelorMittal instead of their own people, said Dipti
Bhatnagar, Friends of the Earth International Climate Justice and Energy
coordinator.
“We are
calling on developed countries to go back home and listen to their own people.
People all over the world demand urgent steps to agree an ambitious, binding
and equitable international agreement on climate change. Now is the time to
break free from our fossil fuel addiction and start a transformation towards
sustainable and just societies,” she added.
The UN
is the most democratic space to address the climate crisis. The UN climate
talks are supposed to be making progress on implementing the agreement that
world governments made in 1992 to stop man-made and dangerous climate change.
The
agreement recognises that rich countries have done the most to cause the
problem of climate change and should take the lead in solving it, as well as
provide funds to poorer countries as repayment of their climate debt.
MEDIA ADVISORY
Friends of the Earth International
November 21, 2013
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