Chile announced yesterday that it will not be able to host the COP25 climate conference in December. Chilean politics in general, and the city of Santiago in particular, have been turned upside down with violent mass demonstrations. So everybody's plans have been upended: the UN, Chile, participating countries, organizations, companies planning to attend, hotels, conference service contractors, and of course activists. Spain has stepped up with an offer to host the conference, which the UN is preparing to take up officially next week. Several other cities have been proposed.
Fast work, if so.
This is very different from what we thought we knew last week, after the parties got together for the PreCOP25 Conference.
Renewable Friday: AOC, Cities' Global Climate Summit, PreCOP25
So, acknowledging that we don't really know what will happen, let us piece together some of what we think we know today.
Activist Plans
The youth activists speaking truth to world leaders about climate change.
They showed up at the UN. They showed up in Costa Rica. They will show up—we don't know where yet for sure.
Fourth global climate strike planned days before UN climate summit
Fridays for Future, the global youth movement calling for urgent climate action, will organise a fourth worldwide strike in November as world leaders prepare to gather for the U.N.’s 25th climate summit.
The strike is set to take place in over 100 cities across the world on November 29, according to the Belga news agency.
News of the upcoming strike comes as the number of people walking out of classrooms and offices to take to the streets continues to swell, with the latest strike in September gathering millions.
Organisers estimated that at least 4 million people participated in the wave of strikes that swept citizens across the world into action, with The Guardian putting that number at 6 million and 350, which organises the strikes in several countries, saying there had been over 7 million participants.
The new round of strikes in November is set to take place just days before the U.N.’s COP25 climate summit kicks off in Chile on 2 December.
Well, not in Chile, but otherwise, ¡Eso es! Bravo! Fantastique ! おめでとうございます!축하합니다! Sijambo! etc. usw.
COP25 in Chile that Belgian climate activists have been sailing to for a month cancelled
Anuna De Wever, the leader of Youth for Climate and the Belgian climate marches, started her journey to attend the summit in Chile by sailboat at the beginning of October. The boat already reached Cape Verde when the news of the announcement reached the crew.
“We have just heard that COP25 has been cancelled,” she said in an initial response immediately after the announcement by the Chilean president, reports Het Nieuwsblad. “We are now discussing the announcement on board. Keep us informed, all ideas are welcome. They can cancel the COP25, but they cannot cancel our movement,” she added.
Cape Verde is off the northwest coast of Africa. Turning around and heading to Spain won't be a problem.
COP25 cancellation takes Greta Thunberg by surprise
Activists sailing to Chile from Amsterdam, following Greta Thunberg's footsteps
A group of environmental activists, students, and entrepreneurs is sailing to Chile from Amsterdam for the U.N. climate change conference COP25. The journey began on Oct. 2. and should last about seven weeks, according to the organization, Sail to the Cop's, website. This follows Greta Thunberg's journey on a sailboat from the UK to New York City this summer for the U.N. Climate Action Summit.
The article doesn't say which route they took, through the Canal or around the Horn, but they can get back in time, too.
Widespread protests force Chile to scrap summit where Trump was expected to end China trade war
“We have lost a unique opportunity in the country’s history,” said Matias Asun, Chile director for Greenpeace. He added it was a “huge failure for the government in the face of environmental demands and injustices facing the country”.
Demanding Seat at the Table, Youth Organizers Announce New Wave of Climate Strikes Ahead of UN Talks in Chile
"Young people are making it clear that we will support and vote for leaders who will listen to us because we will be here, striking, marching, rallying, and voting."
After millions of people worldwide took to the streets last month for a pair of global climate strikes, youth organizers on Tuesday announced a new wave of actions direct at upcoming United Nations climate talks schedule for December in Santiago, Chile.
The next series of strikes will be held on Nov. 29—the day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday—and Dec 6. The goal of the actions is to influence those attending the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 25) from Dec. 2 to Dec. 13.
Political figures will gather at the conference in Chile to negotiate the implementation of the 2015 Paris climate accord, which aims to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100. Every country on Earth except the United States is committed to the agreement; mere months after taking office in 2017, President Donald Trump vowed to ditch the deal as soon as he can.
"Injustice and greed created the climate crisis. The only way we can fight back is by fighting for a just and sustainable world that works for all of us, and it's going to take all of us."
—Zero Hour
Chile
Chile cancels Asia-Pacific and COP25 summits
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has cited ongoing protests as the reason for cancelling the upcoming international summits. The APEC and COP25 conferences were scheduled to take place in a few weeks' time.
The APEC summit, which is a meeting of 21 Pacific Rim countries, was scheduled to welcome leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump on November 16-17.
The UN Climate Change Conference COP25 was scheduled to take place from December 2-13. Chile is the second country to cancel as host. Last November, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced that Brazil would withdraw its offer to host the conference, citing economic reasons.
Chile protests: 'It's about 30 years of abuse of power'
Protests in Chile continue even after President Sebastian Pinera appointed a new cabinet and announced social reforms. But he won't budge on the protesters' main demand.
Their demands are clear: they want the president to resign.
COP25 host Chile ponders decarbonisation
South American country torn between coal and renewables as it prepares for December climate talks
Yet, the city that will welcome diplomats, activists and journalists is largely powered by coal, one of the most polluting energy sources. Coal accounts for 40% of Chile’s energy matrix despite the recent expansion of solar and wind farms.
“Coal is the country’s main problem,” said Matías Asun, director of Greenpeace Chile, adding; “It would be unacceptable to organise the COP without first having a plan to close all plants that use that technology.”
Spain
Spain likely to host COP25 climate change summit after Chile's withdrawal
Spain will likely host the United Nations’ COP25 climate change summit in Madrid, following Chile’s withdrawal as host amid raging street protests in the South American nation, a Spanish government source said.
A spokesman earlier on Thursday said the UNFCCC was waiting to receive an official letter from Spain offering to host the talks and would then organize a meeting to assess the offer.
PreCOP25
At environmental forum, Costa Rica touts economic benefits of climate policy
President Carlos Alvarado says Costa Rica’s decarbonization plan could benefit the country’s economy to the tune of $19.5 billion.
During a speech at the PreCOP 25 meetings, which Costa Rica is hosting this week at the National Convention Center, President Alvarado argued that ambitious climate policies are “not only ethically correct for present and future generations, but also profitable.”
Conventional Measures Cannot Cope with the Climate Crisis We Are Facing
This Was Stated by President Alvarado at the PreCOP25
In a message that went from the emotional to the energetic, President Carlos Alvarado marked this moment: “It is time to move from words to deeds, with a sense of urgency and transcendence. That is the message that we must send to the international community as a result of this meeting, and to COP25 organized by our Chilean brothers”, to be held next December.
Alvarado announced his decree of the moratorium on oil exploration and exploitation until 2050 and added that “we have also asked the congress to prohibit the exploitation of oil by law to send that message with greater force” to the world. “The climate crisis is the biggest challenge that we will face this and the next generations”.
Now you're talking. And it isn't just oil. It's coffee—NAMA coffee, that is, Low-Carbon, Energy-Efficient and Environmentally Sustainable Coffee. Now throw in shade grown/bird friendly, organic, Fair Trade, and you're on!
He recalled that 3 decades ago the traditional way of processing coffee had an intensive consumption of water and polluted the rivers. “From small producer cooperatives to large processing companies they adopted new methods to recirculate water, thus reducing their total consumption; then treat the water used in the process, to reduce its impact on the rivers; and separate the pulp to treat it and convert it into organic fertilizer, which allowed to improve the soils, decrease the consumption of agrochemicals and increase the yield of the crop. Now, its cultivation is also done by agroforestry systems”.
“Today we are honored to say that the first agricultural NAMA in the world was the NAMA coffee of Costa Rica. These nationally implemented mitigation actions are the result of the joint work of the private producer sector, public institutions, and international cooperation. Today we can say that more than 1/5 of our coffee is produced sustainably and is low in greenhouse gas emissions”.
Youth propose climate actions in Costa Rica global conference
Around 70 young people kicked off a new regional climate challenge - 1,000 actions for change - today in the presence of the Vice President of Costa Rica, Epsy Campbell Barr. The challenge seeks to map out more than a thousand youth-led grassroot solutions for climate change throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
The regional youth engagement initiative aims to empower, connect and mobilize adolescents and young people in the Americas and the Caribbean and is coordinated by CONCAUSA, a joint program between the NGO América Solidaria, UNICEF and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
The 1,000 actions for change regional challenge was launched during the Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) of PreCOP 25, which precedes the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25), to be held in Chile in December 2019.
“We want to show what we, the youth of the continent, have to say about this crisis, and above all that we are acting and that our contribution is substantive,” said Catalina Silva, an 18-year-old Chilean young climate activist who is already acting for solutions as one of the three regional Youth Ambassadors of CONCAUSA.
On the road to the next global climate conference, COP25, UNICEF, which already supports mitigation and adaptation policies for climate change, urges governments and decision-makers from Latin America and Caribbean to accelerate commitments and support youth-led solutions through the following calls to action on climate change:
- Climate policies must provide for urgent and ambitious mitigation and adaptation measures, aligned with the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and commitments to enhance climate resilience and reduce vulnerability.
- Children, adolescents and young people must be considered a priority in climate policies at all levels, recognising their specific needs, vulnerabilities, rights and leadership. In particular, the most marginalised and vulnerable children should be prioritised.
- Countries now have a critical opportunity to consider the rights of children and young people in their revised Nationally Determined Contributions, National Adaptation Plans, and in their long-term low emissions development strategies.
- Climate policy-making must be informed by, and commit to, consultation of children, adolescents and young people at all stages, including planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
- Mitigation and adaptation policies should identify priorities and sector-based interventions that are most material to children’s needs and rights, delivering maximum impact and social co-benefits for children.
As usual, there is far more going on than we can fit into one Diary. Look for more on the topics to be discussed at the conference, progress in goals and planning, getting rid of carbon subsidies, providing financing for poor countries, and so on. And petro-thuggery, as in Rachel Maddow's recent book Blowout. She will be on Hardball with Chris Mathews today to talk about it.