Tell Leaders We Need Action on Climate Change Duncan - 350.org
December 11, 2015

A call to action by four world leaders to make immediate progress to fight Climate Change, while we still can. (The Daily Conversation)

This week people from across 350's global network sent tweets to world leaders gathered at the Paris climate talks with one message:

We don't have another lifetime to wait. If you're serious about limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, we need to see commitments to transition off of fossil fuels as soon as possible. Keep coal, oil and gas in the ground.

Those tweets made a huge splash inside the talks themselves, and our #keepitintheground hashtag was the top trending climate topic of the day. Negotiators and allies gave feedback to our team directly that we were being heard.

The next draft of the deal was released in the afternoon, and it makes the decisions world leaders face clearer than ever.

The remaining options for the final text represent two very different choices: one version that sends a signal that the age of fossil fuels is coming to an end, and one that extends the life of coal, oil and gas companies into the next century.

The question heads of state must now answer is simple: Which side are you on - ours, or the fossil fuel industry's? Their actions in the next few days will speak volumes.

We want to follow up the tweet-in by sending messages directly to heads of state at the center of the talks. Can you send a few messages now to hammer the message home?

Click here to tweet: .@POTUS the time is NOW. Keep pushing for a fair, ambitious #COP21 deal. We need action to #keepitintheground and transition before 2050.

Click here to tweet: .@fhollande, 1.5C demands a just transition by 2050. We need a commitment to act NOW. #COP21

Or click here to tweet President Hollande in French.

Click here to tweet: Stand w/ @MinisterTdB & all vulnerable countries. We need ambitious, fair climate deal that ensure survival #COP21

Here are the big fights that might still require more rapid response soon:

Long term goal, both terms and target. The draft text discusses several different kinds of carbon reduction, from "climate neutrality" to "decarbonization," to a few other vague things. It also has roughly two timeframes for action: either approximately midcentury, or after 2100. The choice here is clear: delaying a just transition off fossil fuels into next century is incompatible with climate justice. We don't have another lifetime to wait.

The "ambition mechanism". This is basically the part of the agreement that says countries need to keep meeting in the future, and defines what those meetings need to achieve in terms of new action. There have been some positive signs from the 'Ambition coalition' of 70+ countries moving this forward, but the outcome remains unclear.

Climate finance. This is the least clear state of play. Many aspects remain open to be decided, and lots of conflicting intel about who is fighting for what. What is clear is that the money needed to help countries both adapt to the damage caused by climate change, and build a clean energy economy to replace fossil fuels is not yet on the table.

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