No New Coal Mines
For the leaders of Pacific nations that lie just metres above sea level, climate change is a matter of life and death.
That's why His Excellency Anote Tong, former President of the Republic of Kiribati, wrote to world leaders ahead of the Paris climate summit, asking them to back a global moratorium on new coal mines and coal mine expansions.
"What we are talking about is survival, it's not about economic development... it's not politics, it's survival," - President Tong.
Several other Pacific Island nations immediately backed the President's call, calling for global moratorium on new coal mines, and for carbon emissions to be capped at a level that will stop global average temperatures rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius when they appeared before the United Nations.
The global moratorium on new coal mines has also received widespread support from key figures including Lord Nicholas Stern, Naomi Klein and Kumi Naidoo.
Since No New Coal Mines was launched, the United States, China and Indonesia have announced domestic moratoria on new coal mines.
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ICYMI: Newcastle Divests, Failure not an option for Pacific, coal employs less than Maccas
In Case You Missed It
This week has been a bit of a ‘divest-fest’ in Australia, with a huge congratulations to folks who have worked long and hard on this.
Home of the world’s largest coal port, Newcastle City Council, sent a strong signal of things to come by joining Ipswich Council in divesting from fossil fuels this week.
But that’s not all that’s happened.
Here’s our top takeaways from this week --
How a moratorium helps coal miners
“The big winners from a moratorium are incumbent coal miners.”
What even is COP21?
Everything you wanted to know about #COP21 but were too embarrassed to ask.