Not reduce. Not abate. PHASEOUT!

This week we update our impact, continue our advocacy around COP28, issue a LAST CALL for an important Action Party, celebrate recent successes, and more.

LAST CALL TO SAVE THE BEES!

New York is poised to lead the nation in curtailing the use of the highly toxic neonicotinoid pesticides, but only if a concerned public can convince Governor Hochul to side with the planet instead of the chemical industry. Join our Action Party on Dec. 6 at 7 pm ET to help get this critical legislation passed. Everyone is welcome. We'll have actions for all to take.

Readers of this newsletter will probably have no problem agreeing with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that COP28 should seek a total phaseout of fossil fuels. Not reduction. Not abatement. Phaseout.

But this week, among other things, we are advocating for an entirely different, but integrally related phaseout -- phasing the fossil fuel industry out of COP.

Let's face it. It was a mistake to let the leader of a national oil company be a COP President, as was done with COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber, an Emirati official and CEO of the UAE's national oil company. Why? Let us count the ways:

Bad faith. Last week the BBC reported that the UAE planned to use COP28 to make oil deals. Al Jaber denied having seen or used the talking points, but the fact that his team would even propose it shows how self-interest blinds people to egregious forms of self-dealing.
Bad science. Al Jaber claimed there is “no science” indicating that a phase-out of fossil fuels is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5C. Really? Again, self-interest blinds people to the needs of the moment.
Show me the money. Despite all high-minded talk about giving the industry a seat at the table, should they not have earned that seat? The fossil fuel industry is responsible for just 1% of global clean energy investment (International Energy Agency), and it's investing just 2.5% of its capital in renewables. According to the IEA, that needs to be 50% by the end of this decade. And many oil majors, including the UAE, have announced plans to increase oil and gas production, not decrease it.
P.S. On top of all that, the International Monetary Fund reports that subsidies to the fossil fuel industry surged $2 trillion from 2020, to a total of $7 trillion, and are expected to keep increasing, which dovetails with a second report from the IISD finding that public subsidies in G-20 nations more than quadrupled to $1 trillion in 2022 form 2021. This prompted Bloomberg Green editors to write "The two reports put into stark relief the chasm between nations’ stated goals on the urgency of cutting back on fossil fuels and their actions." YA THINK?

In short, the fossil fuel industry doesn't need or deserve a seat at the table, at least not in a leadership role.

COP28 can still deliver real progress. In fact, it already has. On opening day, world leaders agreed to create a “loss and damage” fund for developing nations, a historic deal that wasn’t expected to come together until the last minute, if at all.

Also on the table is the creation of a global carbon market, which could help many countries slash their emissions by an extra 50%, by some estimates. And while Al Jaber is still pushing for a “phase down” a draft text of an agreement calling for a "phaseout" has emerged. Keep your fingers crossed, but don't hold your breath.

In a year of record-breaking heat and unprecedented climate disasters, we need every single climate win we can get. And train wreck or not, the more eyes that are focused on Dubai for the next two weeks, the more likely we are to see real action.

We agree.

This year the New York State legislature passed the first neonicotinoid-covered seed ban in the nation! Neonicotinoids have been described as the worst pesticide since DDT.

But to go into effect it still needs to be signed into law by the governor. If it passes it will be a major environmental milestone protecting human health and the environment.

Join us and guest moderator and actor Mercedes Ruehl on August 30 at 7 pm (ET). We’ll hear from an expert panel about the dangers posed by these "treated" seeds. AND we’ll all take substantive actions using the Climate Action Now App to ensure the Governor does the right thing.

EVERYONE WELCOME! If passed, this legislation will become a model for the country.

Date: Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023
Time: 4:00 pm PT / 7:00 pm ET
Location: Zoom, registration required

The Peril of PFAs The United Nations has officially declared the ongoing PFAs contamination of the Cape Fear watershed in North Carolina a human rights violation. Residents hope this first-of-its-kind declaration will give the EPA the final push it needs to hold polluters accountable for cleaning up their water supply. (Grist)

Clean Power for Portugal Portugal just ran on 100% renewable energy for six days in a row, meeting the needs of its 10 million residents with wind, solar, and hydropower. How did they make this happen? By committed to building renewables early and often and pledging a 2050 deadline for net-zero carbon emissions in 2016, several years before the European Union as a whole found the conviction to take that step. (Canary Media)

Fossil Free Flying On Tuesday, Virgin Atlantic became the first commercial airline to fly across the Atlantic Ocean on 100% sustainable jet fuel! The flight from London to New York City lasted about eight hours and spanned around 3,500 miles — and emitted only a fraction of the planet-warming gases associated with a typical transatlantic flight. (Grist)

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