The highs and lows continue at Copenhagen. Today we heard rousing speeches from Gordon Brown and from Hilary Clinton on the need for a deal, and for climate financing. All good stuff, but it’s not good enough. Ethiopia led calls yesterday for a compromise deal infuriating other developing countries who are determined to hold out for what they really need. But rich countries have coalesced around the proposed $100 billion figure for climate finance – to be reached by 2020. Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam International said:
“It’s good news that discussions on climate cash have finally got moving after two long years of delay but this needs to be the start of the conversation – not the end. $100bn is half the amount poor countries need to reduce their emissions and adapt to a changing climate. The money must come from public sources – not be subject to the whims of the markets – and it must not be diverted from existing aid promises. Poor countries will still need to build schools and hospitals – as well as flood defences.”
We are calling for rich countries to provide at least $200bn a year in new money to help poor countries adapt to a changing climate and reduce their emissions. Today I saw an incredibly moving presentation by an Oxfam volunteer, Zunaed, who recently went back to his home country of Bangladesh and visited an area badly affected by Cyclone Aila earlier this year. I saw testimony from people whose lives are in tatters, all because of the increased severity of storms and rising sea levels which have swallowed up their villages. We in the rich world have to accept the moral injustice of this situation, and we have to pay our dues. Let us not forget the $40 billion that was found to bail out the Royal Bank of Scotland, and the $2.3 trillion of guarantees provided to the EU financial sector in 2008. Climate financing is the next major bail out package, without which we face global meltdown – can we afford to let this happen?
Today I urge you to read a fantastic blog by an Oxfam volunteer from Bristol who is in Copenhagen. James was at the centre of the action outside the Bella Centre yesterday, in the midst of violent and not so violent action on each side of the fence. His insights are a reminder of how passionately people feel about the need for action inside the conference centre, and how impatient they are becoming with inertia from those in power. Also read the Fossil of the Day site where America has been voted first once again (third day in a row!) for wriggling out of commitments to concrete emissions cuts.
Today’s action is a reminder to email the US Ambassador – but it’s now been made even easier. All you have to do is click here and you can send an instant message to the US. Please do this and get five of your friends to do it so that we can really make an impact.