Long
before the talks began, Avaaz was
funding incredible indigenous leaders to
come to Glasgow and make their voices
heard. They didn't get everything they
wanted, but the final text secured some
important language on indigenous rights, and a
recognition of the role indigenous cultures have
in guiding our response to climate change. And
we also funded negotiators from developing
countries and youth activists to come to the
talks!
We
rolled into town on the back of
a series
of hard hitting ads in Australia, Italy and
Canada, all key power brokers on
climate finance, demanding they unlock the talks
and save lives by stumping up the 100 billion
dollars that rich countries have promised but
not yet delivered.
...
and on day 1 of the talks, we launched
one of the fastest growing campaigns
we've ever run -- a clarion call for
climate justice in partnership with four
inspiring youth leaders: Greta Thunberg, Vanessa
Nakate, Dominika Lasota, and Mitzi Tan. It
reached
1.8 million signatures
by the end of the talks! Together we got it all
over the media just as world leaders were in
town for the summit, and then we turned it onto
a thirty page action plan that governments used
in negotiations!
Then
our actions team took the media by storm with
a powerful rally to "End Climate
Betrayal". Avaazers in Glasgow showed
up on short notice and held up many of the
letters in the photo... and the event gave voice
to inspiring young people and indigenous leaders
from all over the world to deliver a powerful
call for real action, not empty words.
We
partnered with parents groups fighting for their
childrens' wellbeing, and helped get
inspiring mothers all over the media calling for
an end to fossil fuels. Here are six of these
brave mothers delivering their call directly to
Alok Sharma, the president of the
conference.
Meanwhile,
a crack team of researchers teamed up with
analysts from other great organisations to
track toxic disinformation narratives
that could derail climate action or
harm climate activists. When Brazilian trolls
started spreading lies about an inspiring
indigenous activist who helped open the talks,
we investigated, and issued an alert to the
media to call out the lies and correct the
record.
Our
advocacy team got busy
writing our dream
text for the deal, and shared it with literally
hundreds of government officials and
negotiators, persuading them to champion crucial
action to keep climate safety within reach. Our
work was particularly helpful to developing
countries on the climate frontlines who had
smaller delegations at the talks.
And
when former
US President Obama rocked up
to meet youth leaders, we teamed up
with them to greet him with a wave of pressure.
We demanded he keep a crucial promise he made 12
years earlier in Copenhagen to deliver billions
in climate finance to vulnerable countries,
putting the issue firmly in the
spotlight.
Meanwhile,
the actions team
joined up with an
amazing group of artists and "Little
Amal", a 3.5 metre tall puppet
symbolising child refugees, who came to the
talks to meet youth activists delivering our
movement's campaign. Just look at this amazing
photo!
Then
as the negotiations reached crunch time, we
turned up the heat on the blockers. When the US
pushed back on keeping a crucial promise to
deliver money to vulnerable countries,
we published a hard hitting ad in the FT
and delivered it to US Secretary of State John
Kerry. Check it out!
And
the media
interest the ad created helped further raise the
pressure for a breakthrough on finance,
lending critical support to vulnerable countries
at a key moment in negotiations.
It all culminated
in a compromise deal that saw
governments agree to rapidly increase their
efforts to limit warming to the crucial target
of 1.5 degrees, and deliver billions more in
life saving money for countries on the frontline
of the climate crisis.
For the first
time, there was a formal recognition of the need
to reduce coal, the filthiest energy
source, and to cut the trillions in taxpayers'
money propping up fossil fuels.