Oxfam: Delay on climate agreement will cost lives

Media Release - Published: 06 NOV 2009 - Oxfam Australia

Hundreds of thousands of poor people will continue to pay with their
lives if rich countries continue their delay tactics on reaching a
global climate deal in Copenhagen, Oxfam Australia said today.



As the UN climate negotiations in Barcelona come to a close today,
Oxfam Australia’s climate change spokeswoman Kelly Dent said:  "The
world’s poorest countries are already struggling to survive in a
changing climate and need action, not more hollow promises.”



 Responding to announcements by the EU, Britain, the US, and UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that hopes are fading for a legally
binding climate deal in Copenhagen, Ms Dent called on Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd as a Friend of the Chair to use his leadership role to push
for a legally binding agreement in Copenhagen.



 “What is needed now is bold action, not a lowering of expectations,”
Ms Dent said.  “There are grave fears that a political agreement won’t
deliver a fair, safe and binding deal.  And that is precisely what we
need to avoid catastrophic climate change.



 "Today feels like Groundhog Day. We have been here before.  Two years
ago, rich nations promised to deliver a legally binding climate deal in
Copenhagen.  Now these same countries have admitted to back-peddling in
order to accommodate the US, a country which is now playing down any
chance of a climate deal in Denmark.”



 She said Kevin Rudd needs to demonstrate his commitment to his
leadership role – as he has said he would do.  This means pledging to
attend the Copenhagen Summit – as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
had done – and recognising the science by committing to binding targets
of 40 per cent. 



 “The EU says it can agree emission reduction targets in Copenhagen, and Australia must do the same,” Ms Dent said.



 “The world’s poorest nations are facing with an impossible choice - no
climate deal or a bad climate deal. Both options threaten the lives and
livelihoods of millions of the world’s most vulnerable people.”



 She said Australia could move negotiations forward by showing its hand
on what finance it would contribute to help developing countries adapt
to the impacts of climate change and reduce emissions.



 “This finance must be additional to existing aid commitments otherwise
decades of development gains will be reversed,” she said.



 A levy on international shipping and aviation emissions and a
percentage of revenue from the government’s proposed emissions trading
scheme are two ways in which climate finance could be raised.

Source: Oxfam Australia Media Releases