Photo: No Coal Japan
Osaka, 29 June 2019 – In response to the G20 Leaders Summit in Osaka, Japan, Greenpeace International Executive Director Jennifer Morgan said:
“The G19 resolve to act on climate remains steadfast, but what we need now is rapid action to address the climate emergency. To prove to the people they are really prepared to do what’s expected of them, G19 leaders must launch a rapid decarbonisation of their economies and not let another meeting in an endless trade negotiation be the focus.
“Every moment is critical and in this accelerating crisis, summit outcomes reaffirming a commitment to the Paris Agreement are increasingly akin to business-as-usual if not matched with national policy commitments and real world action that rapidly aligns them with the 1.5C goal.
“The youth are striking from school and communities launching lawsuits against polluters, all of them demanding that G20 leaders prove themselves worthy of the name by taking immediate action. The reality of climate change is here and it’s time to get on with implementation.
“Weak long-term climate strategies – such as those of G20 host Japan and its reliance on high efficiency power plants or carbon capture and storage – fail to address the carbon pollution problem at its source. G19 leaders must now come to the UN Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit and COP25 with clear and transparent commitments to ramp up action.
“Like the plastic waste problem, the climate crisis can be solved with the same type of approach: move away from end-of-pipe management and enact fundamental change in our production and consumption models. To truly reduce fossil fuel emissions and plastics waste we have to end the cycle of pollution.”
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