Politics

Greenpeace Wants G20 Leaders to Do More on Climate Change

Sunday, June 30, 2019

Tokyo-(PanOrient News) The environmental organization Greenpeace wasn’t fully satisfied with the results of the G20 Leaders Summit held in Osaka on June 28 and 29, calling on leaders of the participating nations to take immediate and stronger action to combat climate change.

“To prove to the people they are really prepared to do what’s expected of them, G19 leaders must launch a rapid decarbonisation of their economies and not let another meeting in an endless trade negotiation be the focus,” said Jennifer Morgan, the international executive director of Greenpeace International.

On the issue of climate change, the participating countries ended up with a statement echoing the one made at last year’s summit, which simply reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement. The U.S. once again remained the outlier, however, as it has withdrawn from the pact.

“Every moment is critical and in this accelerating crisis, summit outcomes reaffirming a commitment to the Paris Agreement are increasingly akin to business-as-usual if not matched with national policy commitments and real world action that rapidly aligns them with the 1.5C goal,” said Morgan, referencing the goal to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Although Morgan called the G19 resolve to act on climate “steadfast,” she also said that the summit host Japan has a “weak long-term climate strategy” that doesn’t address carbon pollution at its source. She said countries need to make fundamental changes to production and consumption models to adequately address the issue.

“The youth are striking from school and communities launching lawsuits against polluters, all of them demanding that G20 leaders prove themselves worthy of the name by taking immediate action,” she said. “The reality of climate change is here and it’s time to get on with implementation.”



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