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Will Paris deliver climate justice?

This opinion piece is almost 9 years old
 

Richard Dixon is in Paris ahead of the UN Climate Change negotiations that kick off on 30 November

Richard Dixon
Richard Dixon

Despite what world leaders will undoubtedly tell us, the Paris conference is obviously going to fail to deliver enough.

The proposed targets offered in advance fall far short of the effort needed to deliver the 2 degrees C world that world leaders have promised, let alone the 1.5 degrees C temperature limit which is needed to protect the most vulnerable people, nations and wildlife.

There are still huge disagreements between the big historical polluters of the wealthy West and the poorer countries, more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, particularly around the issues of finance and support for adaptation.

We’ll be in the negotiations and on the streets of Paris and our messages will be about opposing fossil fuels, starting with fracking, promoting community renewables and shifting public and private investments from dirty energy to clean energy.

It is still important to put pressure on to ensure that the Paris deal doesn't lock-in low ambition in ongoing climate negotiations in the years to come, as well as ramping up the global fights against fossil fuels and for community renewables.

The French Government ban on big demonstrations has made things difficult for civil society, with plans for big marches and demonstrations at the start and end of the climate conference now impossible.

There are clear links between the conflict in Syria and regional environmental stresses exacerbated by climate change, so in the context of the Paris attacks it is more important than ever that people’s voices are heard. We are working to ensure that people from the climate movement in Scotland will join with others from around the globe on the streets of Paris as the talks draw to a close to show world leaders where the real momentum for change is coming from.

Check out TFN's 6 reasons to join Scotland's Climate March - despite the forecast!

Richard Dixon is chief executive of Friends of Earth of Scotland