Coalition seeks mass action for climate justice in COP 27 talks

Civil society groups from Africa and the Arab world have called for a global mass mobilisation of people to address climate crisis and other injustices, to take place around the world during the COP27 global climate talks in November.

They launched ‘COP27 Coalition’ with an invitation to civil society groups around the world to join them in demanding an end to climate and other injustices and an urgent response from governments and leaders to climate and other multiple linked crises.

The groups also called on citizens to join in a decentralised Global Day of Action on Saturday, November 12, during the COP, organised in cities and towns across the globe to help mobilise millions of people under a call for climate justice and bring movements together to build real power for systems change.

They are also called on civil society to organise People’s Forums during the COP as a collective action and demand for effective action by leaders and governments.

They say the UN climate talks are dominated by rich countries and corporations, and will need a major overhaul to address the scale of the climate crisis and injustices in the current system.

They recognise that the climate negotiations are an important focus for climate campaigners, but not the only way. And so they are calling on groups around the world to use the COP as a moment to build local solidarity and action and build power for real change.

Director of the think tank Power Shift Africa, Mohamed Adow, said: “For far too long, Africa has been controlled by outside interests – a resource pool for extraction and export, and a dumping ground for the practices and technologies no longer wanted elsewhere.

“The COP27 Coalition is a space for Africans to take back control of our collective future. Civil society representing hundreds of organisations and millions of people across the continent are stepping up to show what an Africa that puts communities and well-being at the centre of its priorities could look like.

“COP27 needs to be a reset moment where rich countries need to face up to their failures to cut their emissions fast enough and deliver on the climate finance they have promised.

“A new vision is needed where urgency and action replace voluntary targets and broken promises. If that shift takes place, then COP27 will have put us on a trajectory to a clean, safe and prosperous planet,” according to Executive Director, Climate Action Network International (CAN-I), Tasneem Essop.

“For the Climate Action Network (CAN), a global network of civil society working to address the climate crisis, COP27 being held on African soil represents a critical opportunity to secure climate justice for peoples and communities vulnerable to and least responsible for the climate catastrophe.”