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Success at COP 26 requires urgent action on climate change – not false promises

  • Publication Date | August 26, 2021
  • Document Type | Letter to the Editor
  • Programmes | Climate Change
  • Issues | Adaptation, Biodiversity, Development, International Treaties, Mitigation
  • Tags | 1.5°C, carbon emissions, Covid-19, false solutions, IPCC report, Net Zero, Paris Agreement, UNFCCC
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Floods in Long Laput in May 2021 | Courtesy of Mary Puyang, a resident of Long Laput

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) refers to letter of the British High Commissioner to Malaysia, H.E Charles Hay (published on 24 August 2021) entitled “Working together on climate crisis”.

We agree with the ambassador that governments “can only rise to the challenge of the climate crisis by working together and through commitment to a genuine global transformation”.

However, having been actively engaged in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process, all we have witnessed is a history of broken promises by developed countries, and the shifting of goal posts from decisions which have been agreed to previously. 

Far from showing real leadership with deep emission cuts urgently, we see pledges of net zero by 2050, including by the UK, which are very distant targets which will not limit temperature rise below 1.5°C from pre-industrial levels. 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Special Report on 1.5°C warming, estimated that the remaining carbon budget from 2018 onwards is only about 480 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2eq), for a 50% probability of restricting temperature rise to less than 1.5°C. 

With current rate of emissions around 42 GtCO2 per year, in around 12 years, this budget would already be exhausted. We do not have any more time and luxury to set distant net zero targets, especially for developed countries, who have already overused their quota of the carbon space with their historical and current emissions.     

The net-zero mantra allows developed countries to get away with targets which amount to doing too little too late, and passes on the responsibility to developing countries to do the heavy lifting. 

Developed countries have to get to real zero as soon as possible!   

The Paris Agreement’s call for a balance between emissions and removal by sinks by 2050, is on the basis of equity and in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty. This is a global aspiration, and is not a country-wise prescription.   

Developed countries have failed to honour their emissions reduction commitments agreed to previously. According to the UNFCCC Secretariat, developed countries on aggregate had achieved only 13% emissions reductions between 1990 to 2018, when what was promised was to revise targets from 18% by 2020 to at least 25-40%.   

Countries in Western Europe plus the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada have not managed to reduce their aggregate emissions between 1990 and 2020. Instead, their aggregate emissions actually increased. 

On top of this, developed countries have failed to deliver on the climate finance promise of the mobilisation of USD 100 billion per year by 2020 which was agreed to in 2010. In 2015 in Paris, the goal post for realising this finance target was shifted to 2025.

If genuine transformation is to be achieved, then the scale of the finance needed is indeed immense, but if there is political will to address it, this is achievable.

The International Renewable Energy Agency for instance has said that for limiting temperature rise to well below 2-degree C requires $110 trillion of cumulative worldwide investment in the energy sector until 2050. This amounts to about 2% of average global GDP and includes the entire world but is only for the energy sector alone. For a 1.5-degree limit, much more would be needed. 

In relation to adaptation, estimates by UNEP show that adaptation costs in developing countries are in the range of $140 billion to $300 billion per year by 2030 and $280 billion to $500 billion annually by 2050. 

These numbers are not insurmountable, given the experience of developed countries, who, according to a McKenzie study, are able to deploy $10 trillion in just the first two months in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which is 3 times more than the response to the 2008-2009 financial crisis! 

So the issue is not about there being not enough finance, but is about whether there is political will to provide what is needed for the transformation needed.

The most recent report of the IPCC on the ‘Physical Science’ has been heralded as yet another wake-up call and a code red for humanity and the Earth’s future.   

Given the track-record of developed countries, there is real danger that COP 26 will see more theatrics being played, to give the illusion that the world is on track to limit temperature rise. 

It can be expected that at COP 26, more promises will be made by rich countries that there will be increased money coming if more countries get on board with long-term net zero targets, and agree to the rules for carbon markets, with their offset mechanisms, which will create further loopholes and undermine environment integrity.

Then, Glasgow would be declared a so-called ‘successful’ COP, but not all of us will be applauding, as we are able to see through the false solutions of net zero and carbon markets. This is not transformation but an illusion, that we are on track to save our planet and preserve it for future generations.

Meenakshi Raman
President

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Testimonials

Sahabat Alam Malaysia adalah satu badan bukan kerajaan (NGO) yang telah sekian lama berjuang mempertahan kelestarian alam. Ia juga mendidik masyarakat tentang pentingnya kebersamaan dalam pemikiran dan tindakan agar alam ini dapat kita wariskan kepada generasi hadapan dalam keadaan yang elok dan terpelihara. Dalam pada itu juga SAM giat membantu golongan nelayan pantai dalam memperjuangkan hak-hak mereka sehinggalah tertubuhnya Persatuan Pendidikan dan Kebajikan Nelayan Pantai Malaysia (JARING). Nelayan pantai sepenuh masa ini dididik oleh SAM sehingga mereka mampu memainkan peranan sebagai pemimpin nelayan yang meneruskan kesinambungan memperjuangkan hak-hak nelayan pantai lainnya. Sebagai contoh SAM telah berjaya menyedarkan masyarakat nelayan keperluan menjaga hutan paya bakau untuk kebaikan hasil tangkapan nelayan itu sendiri.
Jamaluddin Mohamad Bualik
Jamaluddin Mohamad BualikPersatuan Pendidikan dan Kebajikan Jaringan Nelayan Pantai Malaysia (JARING)
During the 1980s, I used to read about the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) in the news. After retirement, some time in 2001, while lazing around, I read news about the construction of a carbon in leach plant using sodium cyanide to extract gold in Bukit Koman. My friends and I visited CAP and we were introduced to SAM and her legal team. We discussed the details of filing a case against the gold mining company and the department of environment with Ms Meenakshi Raman and her legal team. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between lawyers from SAM and many of us from Bukit Koman. We had many ups and downs in our struggle to shut down the gold mine that was causing a nuisance in our village. But, as a community we never gave up because SAM had our backs.
Hue Fui How
Hue Fui HowSecretary, Bukit Koman Ban Cyanide in Goldmining Action Committee (BCAC)
Sahabat Alam Malaysia adalah sebuah NGO yang memperjuangkan nasib masyarakat luar bandar khasnya. SAM menerima aduan-aduan masyarakat dan menyelesaikan masalah yang dihadapi. SAM telah mewujudkan ramai aktivis-aktivis sosial dan alam sekitar. Pada era 1980 dan 90an SAM sangat dihormati oleh masyarakat dan agensi kerajaan. Apabila media sosial menguasai maklumat maka SAM pun terkesan dan masalah masyarakat terus disalurkan dengan pelbagai cara. SAM perlu mewujudkan aktivis-aktivis pelapis yang muda untuk terus membantu masyarakat. SAM juga perlu membuat perubahan supaya banyak turun kelapangan dan jangan mengharapkan laporan media sahaja. Tingkatkan prestasi sebagaimana pada zaman kegemilangan SAM di era 80-90an.
Che Ani Mt Zain
Che Ani Mt Zain
SAM taught me the importance of social activism and the role it plays in upholding the rights of people and the protection of the environment. In my experience, SAM has never hesitated to speak up in defence of people and their environment, and has gone the extra mile to champion their rights, by helping communities take their battles to the higher ups and even to the courts.
Jessica Binwani
Jessica BinwaniPublic/Private Interest Lawyer
Semenjak kami kenal SAM, banyak pengalaman dan pengetahuan yg kami dapat. Kami telah belajar cara membuat baja asli daripada SAM. Semenjak itu, bermulalah minat kami dalam aktiviti pertanian. Dengan memperolehi kemahiran dalam membuat baja asli dan penanaman lestari, kami juga telah dapat menambahkan pendapatan sampingan kami. Ini lebih baik daripada tanah kami terbiar dan tidak diusahakan. Terima kasih SAM kerana sudi memberi bantuan dan tunjuk ajar kepada Persatuan kami.
Chedo Anak Nyuwen
Chedo Anak NyuwenPersatuan Penduduk Sg Buri, Bakong, Marudi
My journey with SAM started when her community organisers took me to the meet the paddy farmers of Kedah, connecting my growing interest in environmental law with our people who struggle to work the land in the face of pollution, replacement of traditional seeds with commercial hybrids and their accompanying chemical package of fertilisers and weedicides. I then had the honour to work with SAM in the struggle for the rights of the native communities of Sarawak, in defence of their forests from massive logging and destructive mega-projects. In every issue that SAM takes up, she combines rigorous research with the realities and voices of the communities to advocate for policies and laws that care for people and nature. From the courts to the elected legislators to policy makers and implementers and to the United Nations, SAM walks side by side with the communities in Malaysia. How can I not be inspired by the vision and passion of the generations of women and men who coalesce to form SAM?
Chee Yoke Ling
Chee Yoke Lingstudent of SAM, Executive Director of Third World Network, SAM’s sister organisation

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Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Headquarters)
No. 1, Jalan Joki,
11400 Penang,
Malaysia
Tel: +604 827 6930
Fax: +604 827 6932

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Marudi Office)
129A, First Floor,
Jalan Tuanku Taha,
P.O.Box 216,
98058 Marudi,
Baram, Sarawak,
Malaysia
Tel & Fax: +6085 758 973

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Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Headquarters)
No. 1, Jalan Joki, 11400 Penang,
Malaysia
Tel: +604 827 6930
Fax: +604 827 6932

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Marudi Office)
129A, First Floor,
Jalan Tuanku Taha,
P.O.Box 216,
98058 Marudi, Baram, Sarawak,
Malaysia
Tel & Fax: +6085 758 973

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