Friday, June 12, 2015

VICTORY! Seriously, G7 Says Goodbye to Fossil Fuels!

VICTORY! Seriously, G7 Says Goodbye to Fossil Fuels!
Dear Avaazers, 

Our appeals followed G7 Chair Angela Merkel everywhere for 6 weeks.
Many told us it was a pipe dream, butthe G7 Summit of leading world powers just committed to getting the global economy off fossil fuels forever!!! 

Even the normally cynical media is raving that this is a huge deal. 

And it's one giant step closer to a huge win at the Paris summit in December -- where the entire world could unite behind the same goal of a world without fossil fuels -- the only way to save us all from catastrophic climate change. 

For 2 years our community has led global public mobilisation for this goal, including:
  • spearheading the gigantic, momentum-changing, 700,000 strong climate march last year
  • a 2.7 million person petition for 100% clean/0 carbon delivered to dozens of key leaders
  • scores of rallies, high-level lobbying meetings, opinion polls, and ad campaigns, all funded by our community
  • a 3 month all-out push for the G7 summit leadership, especially German Chancellor Angela Merkel, to put this on the agenda and agree to this goal

Our work is far from done, but it's a day to celebrate -- click here to read more and say congratulations to everyone else in this incredibly wonderful community!! 

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/paris_here_we_come/?bWUthib&v=60188 

We spearheaded the largest climate march in history - nearly 700,000 strong and a game-changer for political momentum.
Just last year climate change seemed to many of us like a behemoth that was dooming our species to a significant probability of extinction due to our own stupidity and corruption. 

But with hope, and good strategy, (the Avaaz effect:)), and the efforts of many leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Pope Francis, and organisations like our friends at 350 and the Guardian newspaper's work on fossil fuel divestment, as well as killer research from groups like the World Resources Institute, most experts now believe the tide is turning, and momentum is building to get a global deal in Paris this year that will set the world on course to a solution. It will be a long fight, we cannot afford to drop our guard, but today, we celebrate a battle won!!! 

With gratitude and joy, 

Ricken, Alice, Emma, Iain, and the whole Avaaz team 

PS: the G7 declaration is just a commitment, and we need to hold them accountable, but commitments matter - sending an immediate signal to dirty and clean energy investors that will help accelerate the clean-energy boom we desperately need. There's more info on the summit and how we helped win this on our celebration page: 

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/paris_here_we_come/?bWUthib&v=60188 

Sources: 

Merkel convinces Canada and Japan on CO2 (Politico)
http://www.politico.eu/article/germany-canada-japan-emissions-pledge/ 

G7 leaders bid 'Auf Wiedersehen' to carbon fuels (Reuters)
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/06/08/g7-summit-idINKBN0OO25120150608
 
Avaaz.org is a 41-million-person global campaign network
 that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 18 countries on 6 continents and operates in 17 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

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