The
stakes
The
IPCC has confirmed that the Earth has a limited capacity to absorb
greenhouse gas emissions (i.e. a limited “emission or carbon
budget”). Senior economists have confirmed that this budget could
be worth in excess of one trillion US dollars annually.i
Negotiations over a global goal and mitigation commitments are
addressing how to share this limited atmospheric resource between
rich and poor nations. At stake in the climate negotiations,
therefore, is among the largest divisions of wealth and resources in
modern history.
Annex
I countries have already used more than their fair share of this
budget, and have long understood what’s at stake in the
negotiations. They seek to continue their over-use of a shared
resource by securing substantial “assigned amounts” of emissions
based on their high historical levels, while locking the South into
considerably lower and declining per-capita levels.
Non-Annex
I countries are rapidly beginning to understand the implications of
an unjust distribution of the remaining atmospheric space, and of the
financing and technology required to live well within its
constraints. A number of countries have called for more equitable
approaches taking into account historical responsibility, an
equitable allocation of a shared atmospheric resource, per-capita
accumulative emission levels, and the climate debt owed by developed
countries to developing countries for their over-use of shared
atmospheric space (“emissions debt”) and for the devastating
consequences of climate change on developing countries (“adaptation
debt”).
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Last Updated ( 16 June 2009 )
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As
the Niger Delta boils and as Nigeria looks towards a bleak future
with diminished oil revenues, the oil corporations operating in
Nigeria continue to garner obscene profits. This happens because the
corporations are not paying for environmental costs of their
operations and because ecological debts go unattended to. Local
communities have shouldered the burdens while the corporations laugh
all the way to the banks secured by their opaque Joint Venture
agreements.
The
trend of profits made by oil companies over the past couple of years
are very telling. These companies reap profits in the face of
whatever woes the world is confronted with.
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Last Updated ( 11 February 2009 )
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Poznan
statement from the Climate Justice Now! coalition
12
December 2008
Members
of Climate Justice Now! – a worldwide alliance of more than 160
organisations -- have been in Poznan for the past two weeks closely
following developments in the UN climate negotiations. This
statement is our assessment of the Conference of Parties (COP) 14,
and articulates our principles for achieving climate justice.
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Last Updated ( 15 December 2008 )
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 WRM Monthly review
Being “carbon neutral” has become fashionable. The World Bank, the Vatican, the World Olympics, the Football World Cup, the Body Shop, the Rolling Stones, and a long list of celebrities proclaim themselves to be totally or partially “carbon neutral”. Even
Mercedes Benz held in California what was described as “the world’s first ever carbon neutral fashion week”! It is therefore
understandable that the New Oxford American Dictionary proclaimed "carbon neutral" as its Word of the Year in 2006.
The “offsetting” myth
One must acknowledge that being “carbon neutral” sounds good – and that some of those mentioned above honestly believe to be doing the right thing- because it gives the impression that “neutral” is synonymous to not emitting carbon dioxide at all. However, the concept hides a dangerous cheating game, where many corporate players are winning, while the Earth’s climate is losing.
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Last Updated ( 10 November 2008 )
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 CHINA’S EXPANDING OIL VENTURES FUEL ANGER IN WESTERN BURMA.
New York and Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed CNOOC behind series of abuses on oil exploration project, says report
BANGKOK – An unregulated scramble for oil and gas by Chinese companies in Burma is exacerbating poverty and creating a potential environmental and security flashpoint that could have repercussions throughout the region, a study released today revealed.
“Blocking Freedom”, a damning new report by environmental and human rights group Arakan Oil Watch said that Chinese companies have been working together with Burma’s military regime to confiscate land and farms, and damage crops and destroy livelihoods by polluting soil and waterways as they search for the oil that will fuel China’s economic development.
“Corporations and their supporting governments engaged in the oil and gas sector in Burma must ensure they follow international standards on local people’s rights, and ensure environmental and revenue transparency,” said Jockai Khaing, director of Arakan Oil Watch. “Until then, we are demanding that they stop oil and gas exploration in Burma.”
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Last Updated ( 27 October 2008 )
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Oilwatch position paper on the voluntary carbon market.
 Download the position paper in PDF (116.94 KB)
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Last Updated ( 10 September 2008 )
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