Photo courtesy of Grace McRae
It’s Time for Leaders to Respond at the UN Climate Negotiations in Glasgow
We live in a world more connected than ever before, but the voices and demands of everyday people and communities are still sidelined all too often in political decision-making and international negotiations. The annual Group of Twenty (G20) Leaders’ Summit is happening this weekend and the 26th annual United Nations Climate Summit (COP26) kicks off in Glasgow, Scotland on Sunday. At these summits, world leaders will come together to make decisions that affect all of us. It would seem reasonable that the voices and demands of those living and working on the frontlines of the climate crisis should be centered in such negotiations, but the obstacles to participation for many developing countries, especially those in the Global South, and grassroots leaders have never been greater, due to inequitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, burdensome travel restrictions, and the high cost of attendance.
Last week, grassroots leaders from 44 organizations across 20 countries in the Global South came together at the second Global Grassroots Leaders Climate Summit. The Summit represented an effort to bridge the gap between frontline communities and the decision-makers who hold the keys to unlocking meaningful international action to avoid worsening climate change. It also aimed to support people already suffering the consequences of a polluted world and disrupted climate. Participants continued critical conversations from the First Global Grassroots Leaders Climate Summit, which occurred in June, and laid the groundwork for future collaboration and cooperation.
Last week’s summit, hosted by the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth US, included both public webinars (recordings can be found here) and a series of private meetings with Jonathan Pershing, the Climate and Foreign Policy Advisor to the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and with US lead negotiators headed to the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow (COP26). These public and private meetings gave grassroots leaders a platform to share first-hand accounts and insights and to voice their demands directly to US officials ahead of the G20 and COP26 summits. After all, the success of these negotiations depends on how well they respond to grassroots concerns and demands.
"Grassroots activists and communities are the ones facing climate change and fighting against it,” said Amy Orta-Rivera from the Puerto Rico-based El Puente- Latino Climate Action Network. “If we are not included in the conversations, then policymakers don't know how climate change is affecting [people] differently in each place."
In the public facing and private meetings grassroots leaders demanded that the US stop financing destructive international fossil fuel projects and increase access to affordable clean energy by investing in renewable energy projects in developing nations.
“Developed countries need to diverge from funding fossil fuels and [fulfill] their 100 billion dollar commitment to adaptation and mitigation pathways,” said Dominic Amon Nyasul from the National Youth Network on Climate Change in Malawi.
Among other top priorities, grassroots leaders called on the US to develop a financial framework for quickly decommissioning global coal plants without leaving communities behind in the transition to clean energy. They also called on leaders to ensure coal is replaced with renewable energy instead of gas.
“It’s time for rich nations to pay reparations to the poor nations. COP26 in Glasgow, should not be an arena for deliberations on false notions such as Net Zero but rather real actions including keeping fossil fuel resources in the ground. Developed countries must stick to climate change funding pledges. There should be no new coal, oil or gas expansion plans in line with the best available science as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Environment Program,” said Tapuwa O'bren Nhachi from the Centre for Natural Resource Governance in Zimbabwe.
First-hand experiences with climate change continued with grassroots leaders talking about internationally funded fossil fuel projects that are having disastrous effects on their communities. Recent research has shown that G20 countries have provided at least $188 billion since 2018 for fossil fuel projects that have harmed local communities all over the world.
While the second Global Grassroots Leaders Climate Summit has wrapped up, the conversation is far from over. Participants made important connections with each other as grassroots leaders, and new collaboration and co-creation is already underway. And soon, Global Grassroots Leaders will be briefing members of US Congress, telling their stories and encouraging their support for the Sustainable International Financial Institutions Act, which would end U.S. overseas support for fossil fuels.
Here at the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth US, we are committed to continue to work to highlight the experiences and demands of grassroots leaders and activists, and more importantly to use every opportunity to call on leaders and policymakers to center grassroots demands in any negotiations or policymaking and prioritize transparency and accountability through direct meetings. As part of this effort, we’ve launched a new audio series where grassroots leaders are telling their stories in their own words. You can check out the first two stories here and here.
As the media and politicians turn their attention to the G20 and COP26 summits, it is imperative to remember who is not in the rooms where decisions are made. It is too often the voices of those most affected by the climate crisis that are not heard or responded to. It is time to change this dynamic -- we must hold our world leaders responsible for centering grassroots voices. Take action and sign on in support here!
If you missed the second Global Grassroots Leaders Climate Summit, we recorded the Welcoming Event and the public webinar “Global Grassroots Demands for the US Going Into COP26.”