Welcome to Tcking to Rio.  This weekly note is designed to be a ‘quick and dirty’ summary of GCCA coordinated activities in the run-up to Rio+20 (or the main areas we are monitoring in relation to climate, energy, fossil fuel subsidies, etc). Mobilisation A mobilization working group is now meeting bi-weekly. Notes are stored online. [...]... Read more »

Here we present specific examples of common sense policies that can promote growth and cut greenhouse gas emissions. These actions fall across three crucial areas: energy, forestry and transport.... Read more »

Creating a different system of accounting for climate change -- one that puts all countries on an even legal playing field while still remaining sensitive to different levels of wealth and historic emissions -- promises to be a politically fraught and divisive task.... Read more »

2011 was a year of changes and challenges. As millions suffered through the impacts of extreme weather and climate change, our partners in the climate movement rose up for them and with them. The victories of 2011 were hard fought, and they give us the foundation upon which our collective movement will rise in 2012.... Read more »

The victories of 2011 were hard fought, and they give us the foundation upon which our collective movement will rise in 2012. ... Read more »

The British philosopher Alfred North Whitehead died more than 60 years ago, but he could have been talking about the Durban climate conference when he said, “Necessity is the mother of invention is a silly proverb.Necessity is the mother of futile dodges is much nearer the truth.” Reactions to the Durban outcome have ranged from “landmark achievement” ... Read more »

I am just back from Durban and COP17. So is Peter Kent. Only he came back and announced that Canada will strike a blow at the fragile agreement that was just produced. As I am sure you have heard, Canada has filed the legal paperwork to withdraw from Kyoto.... Read more »

UN climate change conferences don't of themselves cut greenhouse gas emissions. Negotiations about targets and texts cannot do that; only government policies that incentivise and require business investment in low carbon technologies and other emission-reducing activities can.... Read more »

Here are some of the responses from our partners to the outcome of the COP17 International climate change negotiations held in Durban, South Africa:... Read more »

As the climate talks in Durban concluded with a groundbreaking establishment of the Durban Platform to negotiate a new global agreement by 2015, scientists stated that the world continues on a pathway of over 3°C warming with likely extremely severe impacts, the Climate ActionTracker said today.... Read more »

At Durban, the world’s biggest polluters got dangerously close to collapsing the multilateral response to climate change and to locking us into disastrous levels of global warming with severe implications for all life on Earth. Rescuing COP17 from collapse at the last minute with a bare minimum deal, we have defended our chance to create [...]... Read more »

Our amazing partners from Avaaz have just sent out this email to some of their supporters in the USA. We’re reposting it in full with their permission – climate change is a global challenge and with all of your help, maybe we’ll help the US raise their ambition and save the Durban talks. “Running into [...]... Read more »

It is shockingly quiet in the ICC today. After the enthusiasm, the singing and the mayhem of yesterday this feels like a different place altogether. These talks are progressing slowly and information access is very limited. With every minute that passes by without a scheduled plenary, or a note of what’s coming next, the collective [...]... Read more »

Whatever the outcome, it is clear that an agreement struck here will not, on its own, ensure the level of action necessary to stay below four degrees warming. Governments must come together around the most ambitious package possible today to keep the door open on efforts to really get to grips with the climate crisis.... Read more »

Much coverage out of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa has been devoted to negotiations toward a new carbon-cutting agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires next year. But there is a long list of things the negotiators and delegates are talking about in Durban other than a route to a new climate treaty.... Read more »

As the U.S. delegation drags its feet at the climate talks in Durban, South Africa, this week, a pack of kids back home is trying to force the old folks into action, the American way: They're suing the bastards.... Read more »

You are heads of state, ministers and diplomats. The fact that you are here, charged with delivering a solution, makes you among the most powerful men and women who ever lived. Whether you choose to exercise that power is in your gift.... Read more »

In solidarity with the millions of people already feeling the impacts of climate change, hundreds of people protested in the halls of the UN Climate Talks this afternoon to demand that nations not sign a “death sentence” in Durban. The march filled the hall outside of the main negotiating room in Durban just as the [...]... Read more »

Anjali Appadurai, a youth from College of the Atlantic in the US, gives perhaps the most power speech at COP17. Later on, Anjali and audience members proceeded to mic check the UN. ... Read more »

We support their actions and so too demand that the Canadian government starts putting the interests of people before polluters. For too long our leaders have lobbied on behalf of the fossil fuel industry rather than protecting the future of its people.... Read more »

European negotiators accused the U.S. and Chinese governments Wednesday of "hijacking" global climate talks with a "ping-pong game," as Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent received an unexpected interruption from his own pleas for a new agreement to fight global warming.... Read more »

  Press Release: Pro-Zuma Supporters Physically Attack Civil Society at Durban Townhall Meeting on Climate Change Issued by: groundWork, Earthlife Africa Jhb 8th of Dec. 2011 President Zuma watches as Supporters Assault Peaceful Demonstrators. Twenty minutes ago and in a meeting designed for engagement between President Zuma and communities & civil society, violence ... Read more »

The Durban climate talks are moving into their final hours. Tensions are high, emotions are higher and the stakes for our future are almost unmeasurable. Join our Liveblog team as they stay up all day and all night tracking the progress towards a global climate deal. Until it’s done, we’re not done. In Durban: Heather Libby, [...]... Read more »

Whatever happens, the next 48 hours will change the world. The Durban climate negotiations dance on a wire. Sway but a little, and everything falls. And yet, here we are. Not much further than we started last week.... Read more »

This morning, members of TckTckTck and CAN joined 2000 Durban students in creating the world’s largest human lion on the beach. Their goal? Urge leaders at COP 17 to have the courage to create a breakthrough agreement that will ensure a safe future for young Africans and people all over the world. The clear stars [...]... Read more »

Members of the Canadian Youth Delegation were ejected from COP17 today as Canada’s Environment Minister Peter Kent delivered his opening address at the United Nations climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa. Just as Kent began his speech, six youth stood and turned away from the Minister revealing the message “Turn your back on Canada” prominently [...]... Read more »

When I learned about ‘One World’, a musical about climate change performed by Durban elementary school students, I jumped at the chance to attend the second and final performance. I was hoping to find something to remind me of the heart of these talks, and I wasn’t disappointed.... Read more »

African farmer and civil society groups launched the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) on Sunday, saying that agro-ecology can provide a solution for global hunger and poverty, climate change, threats to biodiversity, and soil health.... Read more »

Back-room negotiations began in earnest Monday on a deal to rescue the only treaty governing greenhouse gas reductions and to launch talks on a broader agreement to include the world's largest polluters: China and other emerging economies, the United States and Europe.... Read more »

Climate change is a matter of justice. The richest countries caused the problem, but it is the world's poorest who are already suffering from its effects. In Durban, the international community must commit to righting that wrong.... Read more »