Firefighters demand emergency funding as thousands evacuated across Britain
FIREFIGHTERS have demanded emergency funding to tackle widespread flooding after thousands of residents were evacuated from their homes and transport links ground to a halt in the wake of Storm Henk.
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Since 2010 funding for the Environment Agency has been axed by two-thirds, including funding for flood defences and resilience. More than 2,000 jobs have been axed.
In the call for emergency funding, Fire Brigades Union (FBU) general secretary Matt Wrack said: “When floods threaten people’s homes, lives and livelihoods, it’s firefighters who step in to protect communities.
“Storm Henk follows a winter of storm after devastating storm and more is to come.
“It’s high time that the government woke up to the realities of the climate emergency.
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Greenpeace UK climate campaigner Georgia Whitaker said: “While the prime minister is on a tour to kick off the election year, thousands of people are seeing their homes, businesses and fields wrecked by rising water.
“We’ve known for decades that the climate crisis would bring more rainfall and flooding and yet the government completely failed to prepare for it.
“Thousands of flood defences are in a state of disrepair and ministers are still allowing developers to build in high-risk areas, while also pushing for more oil and gas drilling that will only make the problem worse. It’s a double failure.
“(Prime Minister Rishi) Sunak should take a break from his glad-handing tour and see for himself what the real consequences of climate inaction look like.
“He might learn how voters waist-deep in flood water feel about his plans to slow down climate action ahead of the election.”
CLIMATE campaigners slammed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for having “fingers in his ears” on environmental issues today as new data revealed record-breaking temperatures in Britain.
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A government spokesperson said the Tories are “committed” to meeting their net zero targets, and boasted that they were “world leaders in cutting emissions.”
But Greenpeace UK policy director Doug Parr said that Mr Sunak “has his fingers in his ears” despite “climate alarm bells ringing” following back-to-back years of record temperatures.
He said: “There is massive voter support for climate action and you’d think this news would call for an emergency response from the UK government — a plan to cut temperature-rising emissions further and faster.
“But our Prime Minister’s newest plans consist of ramping up oil and gas drilling in the North Sea and delaying key policies that would slash emissions from cars and housing — or scrapping them altogether.
“Unless Sunak reverses these decisions and delivers the kind of bold policies needed to tackle the climate crisis, his likely short premiership will be marked as one of climate failure.”
Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil’s You May Find Yourself… art auction. Featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.
The UK government is facing two separate legal challenges over its approval of the massive Rosebank oil project in the North Sea.
Both Greenpeace UK and climate group Uplift argue the approval of the oil field breaks the Government’s net zero pledges and fails to acknowledge the project’s environmental harm and emissions impact.
Uplift claims the Energy Secretary failed to prove how the oil field was consistent with the UK’s legally binding net zero emissions target and argues, the government did not provide a good enough assessment of the environmental impact of Rosebank on marine life.
In Greenpeace UK’s application, it argues the Environmental Impact Assessment used to approve the oil field did not consider downstream emissions, and is therefore invalid. The campaign group also argues that there is no evidence Scottish Ministers were consulted on the impacts of Rosebank, which it claims breaches Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations.
Greenpeace also argue oil contamination could affect whales and wild birds, while the drilling and cable laying under the sea could destroy habitats for species that live on the seabed.
Rishi Sunak gave the go-ahead for the controversial undeveloped oil field in September, set to be the UK’s largest untapped oil field containing an estimated 500 million barrels of oil. With Norwegian owner Equinor set to receive £3 billion in tax breaks.
The next few days could be the world’s last chance of keeping global heating within safe limits, nations meeting for the Cop28 UN climate summit have been told.
With talks in Dubai now entering their final phase, the world’s governments are still far apart on the central question of whether to phase out fossil fuels.
Dan Jørgensen, Denmark’s climate minister, who has been charged with one of the key roles in forging an agreement among deeply divided governments, said: “We cannot negotiate with nature. The climate cannot compromise. No well meaning words will change a single thing unless we act. This week may be our last opportunity to bring us on course to keeping 1.5C alive.”
Jørgensen, along with the South African minister Barbara Creecy, will chair negotiations on the global stocktake, a process under the 2015 Paris climate agreement that assesses progress – or the lack of it – towards meeting the treaty’s goals of holding global temperature rises “well below” 2C and “pursuing efforts” to keep them to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
It is well established that the world is far off track to stay within those limits, which scientists say are vital to staving off the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Average temperatures for this year are likely to break records and come close to the 1.5C threshold, and on current trends the world will hit 3C of heating, rendering swathes of the planet effectively uninhabitable.
For those reasons, the global stocktake will also contain recommendations to governments for a “course correction”, asking them to change policies and bring in measures that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions drastically. The latest draft was published on Friday, and is currently being examined, but there are likely to be more iterations of it before the end of the talks.
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Romain Ioualalen, global policy manager at Oil Change International, a pressure group, said: “It shows unprecedented momentum for an agreement on phasing out all fossil fuels, owing to the relentless pressure from people and governments that are aligned with the science. The Cop president emphasised again today that 1.5C is his north star – and he must deliver on that promise with a Cop decision to build a fast, fair, full and financed fossil fuel phase-out rooted in equity, and enabled by governments redirecting trillions in finance from fossil fuel industry handouts to the real solution: renewable energy and energy efficiency.”
As well as phasing down fossil fuels, countries are being asked to triple global renewable energy generation and to double energy efficiency. The former is already likely to be met, on current trends, and the latter should save money amid high fossil fuel prices and a cost of living crisis around the world.
Developing countries are also concerned that a target to double the amount of finance they get to help them adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis has also not been met. Stiell called for more progress on this issue. “I don’t want to see diversions and political tactics that hold climate adaptation hostage,” he warned.
Failure to agree a phase-out of fossil fuels at the UN Cop28 climate summit would push the world beyond the crucial 1.5C temperature limit and into climate breakdown, the UK’s former climate chief has warned.
Alok Sharma, who was president of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow, said it was vital that governments made a clear commitment in the next few days to eliminate coal, oil and gas.
“If you’re going to keep 1.5C alive, you’re going to have to have language on a phase-out of fossil fuels,” he told the Observer in an interview. “And you’re going to need to accompany that with a credible implementation plan.”
He urged governments to act. “We are running out of time. The window on 1.5C is closing fast, and unless we are willing to act now, with the urgency that this issue demands, we will lose that 1.5C,” he said. “We are literally in the last chance saloon to save our children’s future.”
More than 190 governments are meeting in Dubai for the final days of the Cop28 summit, which runs until Tuesday, with the question of whether to phase out fossil fuels at the top of the agenda. At least 100 countries are in favour of a phase-out, but some major fossil fuel producers – including Saudi Arabia, China and India – are opposed.
Sharma was credited with keeping 1.5C “alive” against the odds at the Glasgow summit he led in 2021, when he managed to forge a deal among more than 190 squabbling countries that focused on the goal of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Greenpeace: COP28 must answer the call for a fossil fuel phase out
Dubai, UAE – As COP28 resumes for a second week, negotiators will be faced with answering the call for a commitment to a Fossil Fuel Phase Out in Dubai. Never before have we heard so many voices, coming from so many directions to seize the moment and commit to phasing out oil, coal and gas. And never before have alternative formulations on fossil fuel phase out made it this far into a draft text. But there are still no guarantees on a decision on fossil fuels, so all is in play.
Kaisa Kosonen, Head of the Greenpeace COP28 delegation said: “We are here to make fossil fuels history. By now governments know they can’t leave this summit without an agreement to end fossil fuels, in a fast and fair manner. Now the question is what is the package of solutions, support and cooperation that will get us over the finishing line. It’s clear that developed countries are the ones that need to take the lead here.
The solutions are ready – a fast and fair transition to renewable energy is possible – but it won’t happen fast enough unless we push the fossil fuel industry out of the way.
Greenpeace International activists from the Rainbow Warrior attach a flag reading ‘Stop Deep Sea Mining” to a cable holding the prototype robot Patania II in April 2021. (Photo: Marten van Dijl/Greenpeace)
In the case brought by NORI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Metals Company (TMC), the judgement states that Greenpeace International’s climbers who were occupying the vessel’s stern crane must disembark, but denies NORI’s request to keep Greenpeace activists from being within a 500 metre radius of MV COCO. The court decision comes after nearly 200 hours of peaceful protest by Greenpeace International activists against the MV COCO, which is collecting data for TMC as part of its drive to file the first-ever deep sea mining application next year.
“This is without question a massive setback for the deep sea mining industry. The Dutch court not only affirmed Greenpeace’s right to protest but also agreed that nodule mining is a highly controversial activity. The Metals Company has never been interested in scrutiny and they can’t stand that Greenpeace is watching and opposing them at every turn. Our activists are speaking the truth to destructive companies like TMC that are only out for their own profit, at huge cost to us all. We are determined to keep bringing this dangerous industry to public attention and will continue to disrupt its plans”, said Mads Christensen, Executive Director of Greenpeace International.
After five days of a non-stop kayak activity around the MV COCO, the vessel was safely climbed by five Greenpeace International activists on 25 November. Activists aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise took turns occupying the vessel’s stern crane to peacefully draw attention to the demand that TMC stop its deep sea mining exploration activities and drop its destructive plans in one of the world’s last untouched ecosystems. NORI claims the protest has been costing it 1M Euros a day.
The Dutch court denied NORI’s request for an injunction to keep Greenpeace activists from being within a 500 metre radius of COCO, a call that was repeated by the International Seabed Authority Secretary-General but which the judge described as ‘not an enforceable measure’.
Greenpeace International climbers descended on 30 November, but the 200-hour ongoing peaceful protest continues.
“The ISA Secretariat should learn from Greenpeace International activists as an example of a bold fight back against the destruction of this still unknown ecosystem. The power of the global movement against deep sea mining is growing, and is undimmed by corporate efforts and behind the scene’s agreements to limit protest. Brave action across the world by people standing up for what is right will stop deep sea mining”, said Greenpeace International Stop Deep Sea Mining campaigner Louisa Casson, aboard the Arctic Sunrise.
Greenpeace International activist Sofia Castellanos said: “We are standing up against the first ever deep sea mining application that TMC are trying to rush through against scientific warnings and political opposition of 24 countries calling for a moratorium. We will continue to protest every time TMC tries to push forward this dangerous industry, for the sake of our oceans and the rich and mysterious life of the deep sea.”
