A new Global Alliance for a Green New Deal that brings together 21 politicians (lawmakers) from around the world who are united in the belief that ‘targets, although important, don’t change things, but policy does’ is being launched today.
The lawmakers in the alliance who are individually working already to advance transformative policies for bold social, economic and ecological renewal domestically are coming together to call for a rapid and just transition in response to COVID-19 and the climate and nature crises from the world’s leaders, and to build a new internationalism based on cooperation and collaboration.
The Alliance which is founded by Representative Ilhan Omar (member of US Congress), Dep. Joenia Wapichana (Brazilian Federal Parliament and member of the Wapixana tribe of northern Brazil), Manon Aubry MEP (co-chair of the Left Group in the European Parliament), Clive Lewis MP and Caroline Lucas MP (co-chairs of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Green New Deal, UK), and Congresswoman Paola Vega Rodriguez (chair of the environment committee of the Costa Rican Congress) aims to add momentum to stalled, slow and insufficient international processes.
At a global public meeting today, the founding members will, while pledging to do all they can to advance a transformative Green New Deal domestically, urge global leaders to:
• Not wait for November’s critical COP26 summit, but embark on bold transformative action to make the world fairer and greener now;
• Work in more globally representative groupings better-placed to understand the challenges the world faces, to fight COVID-19 and build back a fairer and greener world;
• Respond to the need for global collaboration on vaccines and debt restructuring for the world’s poorest nations with a new internationalism based on co-operation, collaboration and global justice, which should also underpin the global response to the climate and nature crises;
• Put a Green New Deal, nationally and globally, at the heart of the Covid recovery.
The Alliance brings together pioneering lawmakers from every continent – from Tanzanian politician Zitto Kabwe to US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
By working together, the lawmakers aim to increase global momentum for a Green New Deal that, if enacted, would deliver global justice, solidarity and build a new, spirited internationalism.
Alliance members have called on progressive lawmakers from around the world to join them, by committing to a statement of principles known as the ‘Declaration for a Green New Deal’
Each of the lawmakers has pledged to renew efforts for further and deeper action at the national level in their respective countries – sharing best practice and advancing further and faster action.
Commenting ahead of the launch, the founding members of the Alliance said:
“Climate change is here and it is an existential threat to humanity” said Rep. Omar. “We have already seen the horrifying repercussions of failing to act—wildfires raging across the West Coast, extreme hurricanes, heat waves in Australia, and massive flooding around the world. Natural disasters like these will only get worse unless we act as a global community to counteract this devastation. I am proud to work with global partners to advance the Green New Deal and bring transformative change to our international climate response.”
“Pledges and targets will not avert catastrophic climate change – ambitious action will, but it’s been perilously absent. The world is running out of time and out of excuses.” said Caroline Lucas MP. “A Green New Deal wouldn’t only avert the worst of the climate and nature crises, it would make everyday life better for the vast majority of people wherever they live in the world. This is our moonshot moment, but this time it’s about making a better life here on earth and the only way we can do that is by working together as never before.”
“Indigenous peoples, the greatest guardians of the forest, are key actors in climate change actions. The Amazon is the largest tropical forest on earth and a third is covered by indigenous lands. Protecting the rainforest is vital to fulfilling the Paris Agreement’s main objective – limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.” said Congresswoman Joenia Wapichana. “Indigenous peoples protect forest carbon more effectively than anyone else in the Amazon. Government and business must stop violating the rights of indigenous peoples and use this as a turning point to work together to prevent ecological collapse.”
“The climate crisis must be prioritised by all parliaments around the world. I’m honored to represent Costa Rica; a small Latin American country recognized for its green policies and biodiversity in the Global Alliance for a Green New Deal” said Congresswoman Paola Vega. “In my lifetime I’ve seen the impact of climate change in my region, from floods in our coasts to landslides in our valleys; inspiring me – and many others – to work to end the practices that damage our natural resources and impact the lives of so many. I’m looking forward to all the work we will achieve together as a global community and the support we’ll bring to all the communities already impacted by climate change.”
“As the consequences of the climate crisis become more and more alarming, inequalities are growing and the poorest are hit hardest by the impacts of a changing climate” said Manon Aubry MEP. “Our new global alliance of lawmakers for a Green New Deal will work to tackle the two challenges of our century: inequality and the climate crisis. Green growth is not the solution, but just another decoy. The Green New Deal we propose is not compatible with the way we currently organise the economy: if we want fair, systemic and effective climate policies we need a radical shift away from free trade and free market ideology.”
“Climate physics cannot be negotiated with; cannot be kicked into the long-grass or asked to wait for a more favourable electoral cycle. It simply is. All we can do as policy makers is respond to that reality. Yet too many of our global leaders refuse to acknowledge and act on this basic premise. Their tinkering at the margins with ‘greenwash’ climate policies are not simply failing at a policy level. They’re failing humanity and the billions of people who need radical, transformative action to avert the worst of this crisis.” said Clive Lewis MP.
“That’s why I’m both honoured and relieved to join this global alliance. Like millions of others around the world I’m no longer prepared to wait for others to fail. If so called ‘global leaders’ refuse to lead, then we and the movements we are part of, will. This alliance will give an urgent platform to those voices, and in so doing give them power.”
The Alliance launches less than four months before world leaders convene at the critical COP26 summit, hosted by the UK, and a month after the June G7 summit which Alliance members say failed to deliver what is needed for the world’s poorest people and countries and for the climate.
A statement issued by Kim Bryan on behalf of the Alliance said the latest report in the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment cycle, due in early August, is expected to reveal that the world is perilously close to exceeding 1.5degrees of temperature rise. Alliance members say that plans currently explored in global fora are no way near ambitious enough to meet the moment, and that they will work together to raise ambition about what’s possible and demonstrate a new way of doing politics, based on global collaboration and solidarity.
