COP26 Newsletter - September 18
Welcome to our new COP26 newsletter! You can expect to hear from us on the run up to COP on the latest news and how to get involved. Within this newsletter we list a few great opportunities, events and SYG’s campaign ‘Make them Pay’.
News - What's been happening?
Wrangling over the Cambo oil field continues - We still can’t believe the brass neck of the UK Government to host COP and continue to grant new oil extraction licences.
Cambo chaos: the oil field embarrassing the government ahead of the COP climate talks
You can check out the official Stop Cambo campaign at Stop Cambo Field (@stopcambo)
More details emerge of previous meetings between the Scottish government and oil & gas companies over their desired COP26 'choreography’
'The Ferret’ breaks down the dance-with-the-devil meetings here
✊ Want to help stop the Greenwashing and kick out the big polluters? Click here to get involved with the SYG’s efforts to do so.
Climate Justice - The theme at the heart of SYG's COP26 Campaign
The COP26 Working Group is thrilled to announce that the main theme it has adopted to underpin its campaigns, communications, and events for COP26 will be that of Climate Justice!
What is Climate Justice, you ask? Isn’t it the same as Climate Action?
Well, no.
Climate Justice is much like Social Justice in that it acknowledges the effects of something - in this case climate change - will have more extreme social, economic, and health outcomes for the world’s underprivileged populations.
To fight for Climate Justice is to address these inequalities within new legislation, treaties, and agreements that concern climate change and amplify the voices and concerns of underprivileged groups to ensure they are not forced to face the hardship of climate change alone
COP26 provides an excellent opportunity for the SYG and other organisations to raise awareness of the need for Climate Justice to be a centrepiece in any and all agreements made at this year’s COP!
Here is a brilliant webinar by the good folks at the COP26 Coalition to explain more.
SYG Campaign Announcement!
We are pleased to announce that our campaigns working group has completed its consultation and planning phase and is now ready to launch our campaign, ‘Make Them Pay’. Targeting SSE (a major corporate sponsor of COP26), we are demanding that SSE in particular and other big polluters in Scotland more broadly should cough up the money for urgently needed adaptation in Scotland’s cities.
Glasgow is acutely vulnerable to flooding, sea level rise and extreme heat waves, affecting the city’s most disadvantaged communities the most. The very venue that COP26 will be hosted in, the SEC, is at risk of being underwater in the next few decades. The taxpayer shouldn’t have to cough up for flood defences or adaptation schemes; it should be the polluters that pay for the damages that they have contributed towards.
We will be ready to offer more details on this very soon as the campaign sub groups commence their work on further research, networking, mobilising and getting the word out. Stay tuned for the next newsletter, where we should have further updates on ways YOU can get involved and get behind SYG’s flagship COP campaign!
Other Campaigns in Scotland
Being an event of such global significance there are a considerable number of campaign groups, coalitions and organisations that are mobilising in the run up to the conference. Here, we’d like to offer up a couple of these and ways you can get involved.
Stop Cambo
Stop Cambo has been making waves the last few weeks in opposition to a brand new oil field approved for drilling in the North Sea. Last month they delivered an 80,000 signature petition to Downing Street, and they’re continuing to keep up the pressure as work on the project has stalled. They have decided to focus their efforts now on contacting MPs across the UK to try and create a swell of support in parliament and to double down on their attempts to pressure Boris Johnson to intervene and stop the new field going ahead.
They are asking supporters to contact their MPs and then register their responses so they can gauge the picture of support within parliament for the campaign. They’ve also sent out a useful tool kit to serve as a one-stop shop for grassroot-level social media messages and step-by-step instructions on ways to get involved.
As the scientific consensus is clear that fossil fuels must be left in the ground if we are to have any hope of sticking to our climate targets, Stop Cambo represents a serious stand against unfettered oil and gas extraction. Its success in stopping the project from going ahead would send a strong message to the fossil fuel industry that its days are numbered.
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland is one of the country’s leading NGOs engaged in the climate fight, and has been instrumental in leading some of Scotland’s major climate campaigns since its formation in 2009. In the run up to the COP26 negotiations, they’re putting together a ‘Climate Fringe’ that hopes to be a week of celebrating Scotland’s activist traditions and building solidarity and ideas ahead of the main event.
The roster of planned events is jam-packed and is an excellent opportunity to learn, network and develop ideas as the international negotiations draw near. You can check out the calendar right here, where you’ll find a programme chock-full of on- and offline events that promise to be fun, engaging, and a great showcase of knowledge. It all gets underway on the 18th September, don’t miss it!
Get Involved!
FYEG ALTERCOP26 - CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS
There are only a few days left to apply for FYEG's (Federation of Young European Greens) AlterCOP! The deadline is the 19th September! Check it out below for more details.
Could you host a Climate Justice activist during COP?
Do you have any family or friends based in Glasgow that might be interested in hosting a climate justice activist during COP? Help support those visiting Glasgow to create impact during COP with affordable accommodation