Global youth to demand 25-40% emissions cuts from
Japanese PM Aso
Event summary: Youth leaders and members of global advocacy group Avaaz.org will be demonstrating outside the Major Economies Forum Monday in Paris, France to demand stronger 2020 climate targets from Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso. The demonstration is a response to polluters' stage-management of the Japanese government's unfair "public consultation" process around the 2020 target announcements.
The campaigners, who will be wearing green hardhats to symbolize the new low-carbon clean energy economy, will create a hard-hitting photo opportunity with a giant image of Taro Aso behind bars, asking whether his legacy will be as a climate hero – or a climate criminal?
Background: Monday, the ‘Major Economies Forum’, or the MEF, meets in Paris to discuss negotiate climate and energy policy, with representatives from 17 nations – including Japan, whose 2020 carbon reduction targets will be decided in the next ten days.
Japan’s government has put forward six possible mitigation targets, ranging from 25% reductions below 1990 levels to a 4% increase. Science is clear that targets of 25-40% by developed countries are the minimum standard required to avoid catastrophic climate change. Youth groups and climate campaigners worldwide are outraged by Japan’s shamefully weak proposals and by the sham public consultation process, stage-managed by polluting Japanese industry federation Nippon Keidandren.
Avaaz.org Executive Director
Ricken Patel said,
"As one of the world's wealthiest nations, with a history of technological
leadership, Japan should set the most ambitious reduction targets
possible, jump into a new low-carbon clean economy, and set an example
for the rest of the world in the lead up to Copenhagen negotiations
– instead of giving into the demands of polluters. Anything less
than a 25% emissions target would be criminal."
When: Monday
25th May, 1300h to 1330h
Where: Quai d’Orsay 37, outside the Foreign Ministry State Rooms
Who: Youth climate advocates from many countries and members of global advocacy groups Avaaz.org and 350.org, wearing green hardhats to symbolize the clean energy economy
What: Rally asking whether Japanese PM
Aso will choose to be a climate hero or a climate criminal
– with hard-hitting photo opportunity of Aso behind bars
Spokespeople: Anna Keenan (English) Avaaz Action Factory Coordinator +61 419 792 263, +49 157 825 69467, anna@actionfactories.org Benoit Kubiak (French), +33 619 189 097, benka@actionfactories.org, Luis Morago, Avaaz Campaign Director (Spanish, English) +34 691 164063 Press officer: Philippe Boucher (English, French), for Global Climate Change Action,
Comments