Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative

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Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative
FormationSeptember 2020 (2020-09)[1]
Chair
Tzeporah Berman[2]
Steering committee
Andrea Reimer, Andrew Simms, Carlos Larrea, Carroll Muffett, Catherine Abreu, Lidy Nacpil, Lili Fuhr, Loukina Tille, Mark Campanale, Matthew Stilwell, May Boeve, Meena Raman, Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Mohamed Adow, Niranjali Amerasinghe, Osprey Orielle Lake, Peter Newell, Dr Richard Denniss, Sanjay Vashist, Simon Taylor, Tasneem Essop, Tom Goldtooth, Tzeporah Berman
Websitefossilfueltreaty.org

The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative is a civil society campaign for an international treaty to prevent fossil fuel exploration and expansion, and ensure a managed phase out of fossil fuel production to limit global warming.[3] The treaty aims to complement the Paris Agreement and ensure a fair and just transition to renewable energy.[4]

The treaty has been endorsed by Nobel laureates, academics, researchers, activists, and municipal governments[5] and includes a program to create a standalone Global Registry of Fossil Fuels to ensure transparency and accountability of production and reserves.[6]

History[]

In 2015, Pacific Island leaders issued the "Suva Declaration On Climate Change" during the Pacific Islands Development Forum in Suva, Fiji. They called for "the implementation of an international moratorium on the development and expansion of fossil fuel extracting industries, particularly the construction of new coal mines, as an urgent step towards decarbonising the global economy."[7] The next year, in 2016, fourteen Pacific Island nations continued to discuss the world's first treaty that would ban new coal mining and embrace the 1.5 °C goal set at the recent Paris climate talks.[8]

In August 2017, a group of academics, activists, and analysts issued the Lofoten Declaration which stressed that climate policy and governance required a managed decline of fossil fuel production.[9] The international manifesto called for fossil fuel divestment and phase-out of use with a just transition to a low-carbon economy. The declaration received the support of 744 organizations, spanning 76 countries and helped mobilize efforts for a global treaty on fossil fuel production.[10][11][12][13] The government of Norway divested from exploration and production shortly afterward.[14]

At the closing of United Nations Climate Change Conference, on 17 November 2017, the Democratic Republic of Ethiopia made a final statement on behalf of Least Developed Countries (LDC), which they stressed the need for "an increase in ambition by all countries to put us on track to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C by strengthening our national contributions, managing a phase-out of fossil fuels, promoting renewable energy and implementing the most ambitious climate action."[15]

One year later, on 23 October 2018, Peter Newell and Andrew Simms, academics at the University of Sussex, wrote an op-ed in The Guardian that renewed these public calls for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.[16] While the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) advised reducing carbon emissions 45% by 2030 to hold global temperature rise below 1.5 °C, global demand for coal, oil and gas has continued to grow. Newell and Simms noted that fossil fuels accounted for 81% of energy use in 2018 with forecasts, including those by the International Energy Agency, anticipating greater demand in future decades.[17] As a historical precedent for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, Newell and Simms cited the Toronto Conference on the Changing Atmosphere in 1988, where the threat of "climatic upheaval" was compared "second only to nuclear war"—a sentiment endorsed at the time by the CIA, MI5, United Nations.[16] In 2019 and 2020, Newell and Simms continued to write and publish on the Treaty in public and academic journals.[17][18]

Launch[]

The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative officially launched at Climate Week NYC on September 25, 2020 at an event called "International Cooperation to Align Fossil Fuel Production with a 1.5°C World."[19]

Tzeporah Berman, a Canadian environmental activist, was named the chair of the Treaty Initiative, and Alex Rafalowicz, the director of the Treaty Initiative. Berman has argued that by "explicitly addressing the supply side of the climate crisis, the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty offers a way for countries to shift course."[20] Berman has since argued that the Treaty would be a more genuine and realistic way to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement than the "net zero" approach which, she claimed, is "delusional and based on bad science."[21] As Rafalowicz has put it, the "Treaty aims to be a complementary mechanism to the Paris Agreement by directly addressing the fossil fuel industry and putting the just transition at its core."[22]

Letter to World Leaders[]

On 21 April 2021, the Treaty Initiative coordinated a letter signed by 100 Nobel laureates, including scientists, peace makers, writers, and the Dalai Lama, urging world leaders "to take concrete steps to phase out fossil fuels in order to prevent catastrophic climate change."[23][24][25][26]

The open letter referenced the importance of both the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 2015 Paris Agreement which aims to limit global warming to "well below" 2 °C and, ideally, restrict any rise to 1.5 °C, compared to pre-industrial levels.[23] It noted that failure to meet the 1.5 °C target would risk "pushing the world towards catastrophic global warming." It also added that the Paris Agreement makes no mention of oil, gas or coal.[23] The letter highlighted a report from the United Nations Environment Programme, stating that "120% more coal, oil, and gas will be produced by 2030 than is consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C."[27][23]

The letter concluded that the expansion of the fossil fuel industry "is unconscionable":

"The fossil fuel system is global and requires a global solution — a solution the Leaders' Climate Summit must work towards. And the first step is to keep fossil fuels in the ground."[23]

The open letter, published a day before U.S. President Joe Biden hosted the virtual 2021 Leaders' Climate Summit with leaders from various countries, described the burning of fossil fuels as "by far the major contributor to climate change."[23]

Alongside the Dalai Lama, signatories to the letter included Jody Williams, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines' founding coordinator; the economist Christopher Pissarides; Shirin Ebadi, the first female judge in Iran; and former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Other names included Liberian peace activist and advocate for women's rights, Leymah Gbowee, and Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian playwright, novelist and poet.[23]

Global registry of fossil fuels[]

In February 2021, Carbon Tracker, a UK-based think tank, and Global Energy Monitor, a US-based research organization, announced the creation of an independent and standalone Global Registry of Fossil Fuels. The Registry is supported by the Treaty as an important step in ensuring transparency and accountability in fossil fuel production and reserves.[28]

Mark Campanale, the founder and executive director of Carbon Tracker, wrote in the Financial Times that the registry "will allow governments, investors, researchers and civil society organisations, including the public, to assess the amount of embedded CO2 in coal, oil and gas projects globally. It will be a standalone tool and can provide a model for a potential UN-hosted registry."[29]

At the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Ted Nace, executive director of Global Energy Monitor, said "The development of this dataset is the first step in a virtuous circle of transparency. The more the inventory of carbon in the ground advances, the more useful it will become and the greater the pressure on countries and companies for full transparency."[30]

2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference[]

On 11 November, at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, "a group of young climate activists delivered a sharp rebuke to delegates at the COP26 climate summit...demanding that a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty be put in place and calling out global leaders for their continued closeness to the coal, oil and gas industries...The activists did not mince their words when they took over the stage at the Glasgow conference, pointing out the absurdity of the fact that the very mentioning of "fossil fuels" in the meeting's agreement has become a sticking point. No COP agreement has ever mentioned fossil fuels as the main driver of the climate crisis....The youth and the leaders of the Fridays for Future group [had] joined the already established Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, a network of civil society organizations pushing for a speedy and just phaseout of fossil fuels."[31]

Endorsements[]

Scientists and academics[]

As of September 14, 2021, the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty has received the endorsement of 2,185 scientists and researchers from 81 countries.[32][6][33]

Cities[]

City Location Date of endorsement
Vancouver[34] Canada 9 October 2020
Barcelona[35] Spain 20 January 2021
Los Angeles[36] USA 21 April 2021
Yakima[37] USA 1 June 2021
Toronto[4][38] Canada 15 July 2021
Sydney[22][39] Australia 16 August 2021
Bonn[40] Germany 10 December 2021

Sub-national regional governments[]

Government Location Date of endorsement
Australian Capital Territory[41] Australia 2 June 2021

See also[]

External links[]

References[]

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  2. ^ Goering, Laurie (28 June 2021). "Greenwash or lifeline? Tough rules needed for credible net-zero plans". Reuters. Archived from the original on 3 July 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  3. ^ Aronoff, Kate (November 18, 2021). "The Biden Administration's Drilling Auction Shows Why the Paris Agreement Isn't Enough". New Republic.
  4. ^ a b Rider, David (2 August 2021). "Toronto just approved a host of climate-related policies. We asked experts how they stack up". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
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  6. ^ a b Woodside, John (16 September 2021). "Thousands call for fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty as UN meeting kicks off". Canada's National Observer. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  7. ^ "Suva Declaration On Climate Change" (PDF). 2015.
  8. ^ Slezak, Michael (14 July 2016). "Pacific islands nations consider world's first treaty to ban fossil fuels".
  9. ^ "The Lofoten Declaration".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ 350.org. "Official submissions call on UN climate parties to address fossil fuel production and financing". Retrieved 19 October 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ Stand.Earth (23 September 2019). "530 organizations in 76 countries sign Lofoten Declaration".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ Newell, P.; Simms, A. (2020). "Towards a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty". Climate Policy. 20 (8): 1043–1054. doi:10.1080/14693062.2019.1636759.
  13. ^ Asheim, G. B.; et al. (2019). "The case for a supply-side climate treaty". Science. 365(6451) (6451): 325–327. Bibcode:2019Sci...365..325A. doi:10.1126/science.aax5011. PMID 31346056. S2CID 198914220.
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  15. ^ "LDC Group Statement at the Joint closing session for COP23". Retrieved 11 November 2021.
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  22. ^ a b Rafalowicz, Alex (19 August 2021). "This is why we need a fossil fuel treaty". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
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  25. ^ "'Stop fossil fuel expansion': Nobel laureates urge climate action". Al Jazeera. 22 April 2021. Archived from the original on 30 June 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
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  30. ^ Amos, Ilona (11 November 2021). "COP26: New online tool to reveal true picture of coal, oil and gas extraction worldwide". Scotsman.
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  36. ^ "Los Angeles first city in the US to endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty". Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. 21 April 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  37. ^ Foster, Ella (2 June 2021). "Yakima council supports efforts to combat climate change". Yakima Herald. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  38. ^ "Toronto Endorses Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty, Adopts New Building Retrofit Standards". The Energy Mix. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  39. ^ "Sydney unanimously endorses the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty". The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty (in American English). Retrieved 2021-08-20.
  40. ^ "Bonn becomes the first city in Germany to endorse the Fossil Fuel Treaty". Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  41. ^ Bladen, Lucy (2 June 2021). "ACT endorses fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
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