Opinion: Climate Activists and Their Nations Making a Difference at COP28

Love, Justice and Climate Change

I’ve been excited to learn recently about three different powerful climate activist campaigns, two of which have led to actions at COP28.  As I write this it’s too early to know what the COP itself will produce, but so far, much of the news seems to indicate that we have not yet built a sufficiently powerful climate movement, either in the U.S. or globally, to derail the power of the fossil fuel industry and its accomplices.

No New LNG Export Terminals on the Gulf Coast
Here’s some good news. A month ago I wrote to you about a vital campaign to stop the climate-destroying expansion of LNG export terminals along the Gulf Coast in the U.S.  This campaign is growing.  In late November activists delivered more than 200,000 petition signatures to the Department of Energy calling for the Biden Administration to halt any permit approvals for new LNG terminals. At the behest of Third Act, elders are writing thousands of hand-written letters. Young influencers are using  TikTok and Instagram to spread the word. 

The Biden Administration has made no announcements about any change in policy, but they’ve indicated privately that they are seriously studying their response to this uproar.  If you haven’t signed the petition yet, please join in on what has become an international protest and sign the petition.  It’s at www.bit.ly/NoNewLNG. Organizers are now seeking a million signatures. (Note: The count you will see on the signing website includes only a fraction of the signatures so far.)

LNG Exports Protest at COP28
At COP28 in Dubai activists gathered to urge all countries to stop support for the expansion of the global trade in LNG– a major obstacle to containing global warming. “There is nothing natural about natural gas: it should be called liquefied methane gas,” Roishetta Ozane, an activist from Louisiana, said at the demonstration in Dubai. More than 250 environmental groups sent an open letter to the U.S. Secretary of Energy and President Biden urging them to stop permitting any new LNG facilities.

Netherlands Activists’ Protest Leads to Action at COP28
In September a report released in the Netherlands revealed that the government there was involved in large subsidies to fossil fuels. Over 10,000 people turned out to block a major highway and protest the subsidies. Legislators voted to require the government to reveal the full extent of the subsidies and to come up with a plan for eliminating them. 

Now, at COP28, the Netherlands has gone a step further and taken the initiative to assemble a coalition of 12 nations committed to publishing an inventory of their own fossil fuel subsidies within a year and moving to eliminating them. (The U.S. has, so far refused to join the coalition because of  objections from the U.S. fossil fuel industry and its supporters in Congress.) Global subsidies for fossil fuels reached $7 trillion in 2022 according to the IMF (International Monetary Fund).

Unprecedented Action in Australia
In late November some 3,000 people from across Australia blockaded the world’s biggest coal export terminal and shut down its operation for two days.  Many took to the water in kayaks, blocking shipping lanes in this “Rising Tide” action. Over 100 were arrested, although the protest was thoroughly peaceful. It was the largest civil disobedience climate protest in the history of Australia. They succeeded in stopping half a million tons of coal from being exported.

Loss and Damage Fund at COP28
One bit of good news from COP28 is that on the first day they unanimously approved making the new Loss and Damage Fund operational. Unfortunately, there are no requirements that nations  pay into the fund and no hard deadlines or targets. Initial pledges to contribute to the fund totaled about $400 million, led by $100 million from Germany and $100 million from the United Arab Emirates. Current projections are that developing nations will experience close to $400 billion per year in climate caused loss and damage by 2030.  So the initial pledges were deficient by a factor of 1000. The U.S. contribution was an “embarrassing” $17.5 million.

Phase Out Fossil Fuels?
As of Monday night, December 11, there are huge disagreements over what the final text from COP28 (due on Tuesday) should say. Some oil-producing countries are insisting that they will not sign anything that requires a reduction in fossil fuel production. Others are demanding that the text call for a full “phase-out” of fossil fuels. 

Cedric Schuster of Samoa, the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, said: “We will not sign our death certificate. We cannot sign on to text that does not have strong commitments on phasing out fossil fuels.”  In order for the COP to come to an agreement, every nation must sign on. A group of countries including the U.S., Australia, UK, Canada, and Japan have said they will not sign onto “death certificates” for small island nations and are demanding stronger language to curb fossil fuels. It’s not at all clear how this will all come out or when it might actually be resolved. 

Russ Vernon-Jones was principal of Fort River School 1990-2008 and is currently a member of the Steering Committee of Climate Action Now-Western Massachusetts. He blogs regularly on climate justice at www.russvernonjones.org.