Climate: Italian coalition formed ahead of Paris 2015

Already 50 member associations

So many different associations in terms of history, culture, goals and social reasons, together with one goal: to fight climate change by creating a coalition open to all those who share the goal of building common and widespread initiatives and mobilizations, so as to achieve the greatest possible awareness of the fight against climate change and the upcoming COP21 in Paris.

The Italian Coalition, “Paris 2015: let’s mobilize for the climate,” will organize national and territorial events to urge action against climate change, to encourage the conversion of the agricultural model to organic by enhancing agriculture’s contribution to reducing emissions, to block the government’s drilling development program, and to start building in the various industrial sectors a production model that accelerates the ongoing energy transition, guaranteeing employment levels, for a clean, efficient and renewable future. To achieve this goal, it will be necessary to talk with the Italian government and the European Union for them to take useful positions at COP 21, starting with the formal recognition that ‘Just Transition’ should be an integral part of the policy framework that the EU will adopt to organize the transition to a low-carbon economy beyond 2020. Instead, the coalition’s third action will concern communication, with initiatives aimed at informing the public and journalists, to spread awareness of the challenges that will be played out in Paris, the effects of climate change on the planet and on everyone’s lives, and the prospects that serious mitigation and adaptation policies could bring to our country as well as to all countries around the globe.

These, in brief, are the commitments that the 50 associations that formed the “Paris 2015: let’s mobilize for climate” coalition today agreed to address in the run-up to the Paris meeting.
“Climate change is now a global and local emergency, threatening the lives of people, species and ecosystems,” reads the document approved by the Coalition. At stake are the security of entire populations in every area of the planet, economic costs, increasing difficulties in access to water, reduced agricultural production, worsening conditions of poverty, and new causes of conflict and flight: questions of climate justice are explicitly raised around the world today.
While the anthropogenic causes are now shared worldwide scientifically and it is all agreed that they largely depend on the explosion in the last centuries of the use of fossil energy sources and deforestation, today the knowledge and technological solutions exist to develop a fossil-free economy, which opens up prospects for new productive sectors with important employment spin-offs and which develops a new energy democracy.”

COP21, which will be held in Paris next December, is then a very important milestone in the battle against climate change, but there is much resistance, led mainly by the old energy source lobbies, and much timidity being shown by governments. This is why it cannot be taken for granted that the outcome of COP21 will be positive, that is, an effective, fair and hard-hitting agreement will be enacted that will truly achieve the goal of keeping global warming well below 2°C.

“For us, today it is necessary and urgent to act so that, thanks to the pressure of public opinion and civil society organizations, a legally binding agreement in line with the indications of the scientific community can be wrested,” declare the coalition associations. “This is why the Italian Coalition ‘Paris 2015: let’s mobilize for the climate’ was born, so that Paris can open a concrete path shared by all countries, within the framework of a common and differentiated responsibility in relation to the contribution historically made to CO2 emissions.
We want to arrive with a large participation in the international mobilizations first on November 28 and then in December in Paris.”

Early promoters:
ACLI, AIAB, AIIG, ARCI, ARCI CACCIA, ARCI SERVIZIO CIVILE, ASUD, AUSER, CEVI – CENTRO DI VOLONTARIATO INTERNAZIONALE DI UDINE, CGIL, CIA, COLDIRETTI, CTS, FEDERCONSUMATORI, FIAB, FIOM, FOCSIV, FONDAZIONE CULTURALE RESPONSABILITA’ ETICA, FORUM ITALIANO DEI MOVIMENTI PER L’ACQUA, GREENPEACE, ISDE-MEDICI PER L’AMBIENTE, ISTITUTO NAZIONALE URBANISTICA – INU, ITALIAN CLIMATE NETWORK, KYOTO CLUB, LA NUOVA ECOLOGIA.IT, LEGA PESCA, LEGAMBIENTE, LINK, LIPU, LUNARIA, MAREVIVO, CONSUMER MOVEMENT, CITIZEN DEFENSE MOVEMENT, OXFAM, PRO NATURA, RETE DEGLI STUDENTI MEDI, RETE DELLA CONOSCENZA, RETE PER LA PACE, RINNOVABILI.IT, RSU ALMAVIVA, SALVIAMO IL PAESAGGIO, SBILANCIAMOCI, SI’ RINNOVABILI NO NUCLEARE, SLOW FOOD ITALIA, SPI – CGIL, TOURING CLUB ITALIANO, UIL, UISP, UNIONE DEGLI STUDENTI, UNIONE DEGLI UNIVERSITARI, WWF ITALIA