Shoppers and rugby supporters weren’t the only folk out on the streets in busy Bath at the week-end.
Members of Extinction Rebellion Bath and other groups were there in the thick of it and demonstrating as part of the “Now we Rise” Global Day of Action for Climate Justice. The group say they were highlighting the lies and hypocrisy at the heart of COP28, the latest in the round of annual global climate change summits, which is currently taking place in Dubai. The group included a samba band and characters dressed as Rishi Sunak and Jacob Rees Mogg.
2023 is set to be the hottest year on record, with November likely to be 1.7 to 1.8°C above pre-industrial times. Global emissions of Carbon dioxide (the primary driver of climate change) are still rising. Indications are that we are heading for a disastrous 2.7 degrees of warming by the end of the century, even if current commitments to emissions cuts are adhered to.
Climate change already is harming food security, ecosystems and economies and fueling displacement and migration in poorer regions such as Africa.
Against this background, the signals from COP28 are not good:
- Sunak, Cameron and King Charles each used separate private jets to travel to Cop28. Private air travel is up to 10 to 20 times more polluting than commercial flights.
- In contrast to outputs from its slick PR machine, COP 28 host UAE has the world’s biggest climate-busting oil plans and was caught planning to use the COP28 process as a plan to sell more oil. Other countries, including India, Saudi Arabia, and Russia are also planning huge increases in fossil fuel extraction. The International Energy Agency – a trade body for energy producers, NOT a campaigning organisation, has said that there should be no new oil and gas fields if we are going to keep global warming to below 1.5 degrees.
Matt Cooper, from Bath said: “I’m here to call out the failings of the COP process, which has been captured by fossil fuel interests. Any outcome in Dubai that falls short of the complete phase out of fossil fuels will be a political and moral failure with grave consequences – it will put at risk the lives of millions and the livelihoods of billions of people around the world, including here in the UK.”
David Searby, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion Bath stated: “The UAE had planned to use COP28 as an opportunity to sell more of its oil and gas – this is like selling whisky at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting”.
What of the UKs recent record?
Rishi Sunak says Britain is a ‘world leader’ on climate, but has vowed to “max out” the UK’s oil and gas reserves, and has approved development of the Rosebank oil field, whose output will generate emissions equal to the annual emissions of the 28 poorest countries combined.
Accelerating extraction in the North Sea will not help UK energy consumers – Fossil Fuel companies sell the oil and gas to the highest bidder on international markets, keep all the revenue, and are currently making eye-watering profits on which they pay almost no tax. Almost 80 per cent of UK production of crude oil is exported and plays no part in our domestic energy security.
Climate Action Tracker recently rated the UKs climate policies as “insufficient”. They said that “The current UK government is wrecking the United Kingdom’s long-held claims to climate leadership, making a series of U-turns on key climate policies, demonstrating chronic delays and a lack of vision in developing new policies, and actively undermining investor confidence in the country’s commitment to climate action”.
