Over 200 academics from around the world have criticised the ‘corporate-capture’ of the Glasgow climate summit and are calling for a Real Green Revolution to soften the breakdown of societies. After the UNFCCC COP26 Draft Overarching Decision was released, they signed a public letter. The full list of signatories from more than 30 countries follows below. Follow reaction via: http://twitter.com/scholarswarning
The letter is titled: ‘An International Scholars’ Warning on the Corporate-Capture of the Climate Agenda and Need for a Real Green Revolution’ and appears in The Independent newspaper:
Earlier this year, the official international summary of climate science announced we face increasing disasters
and disruptions, with the most vulnerable suffering the most and soonest. A leaked report from the same UN process identified
the need for a transformation in our economic systems for a meaningful attempt
to limit loss and damage.
Yet at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, no plan for a justice-based
economic transformation was launched. Worse, voluntary business commitments
distracted from the economic policies necessary to reduce atmospheric carbon
and prepare for worsening disruption. That is despite decades of voluntary
initiatives not delivering significant impacts on the climate. It
is both unscientific and unethical to deny that our economic system is at fault, so must be transformed to reduce
climate risk and adapt to the difficulties. To ignore that reality, plans are
afoot to waste huge sums of money on energy-hungry yet atmospherically
insignificant carbon capture machines.
Political leaders could instead level with their populations about
necessary changes in industries and lifestyles. Respecting climate justice,
they could take immediate steps to reduce inequality both nationally and
globally – key for any changes in livelihoods to be fair and lasting.
We are hundreds of scholars from dozens of countries, who are grieving
the situation but determined not to ignore it. We believe that the corporate
capture and failure of COP26 clearly show that people in communities and
organisations must now lead our own emergency response. That includes
coordinated radical policy advocacy from outside of a corporate-driven system,
for a Real Green Revolution that will significantly reduce and
drawdown emissions, regenerate nature and help us adapt. It also includes
growing community-led Deep Adaptation efforts independently of governments
and transnational corporations.
The hot air from Glasgow means it's time for more honest and radical
leadership. We must call out the fantasy that dangerous global heating will not
get worse or that the largest corporations will come to our rescue. When we
escape such delusion, we can contribute to a different way forward - one we
hope governments will join when they escape the constraints of
business-as-usual.
Sample signatories: Dr. Malika Virah-Sawmy, IAAS-Potsdam, Germany and Mauritius; Professor Dr. Jem Bendell, University of Cumbia and co-editor Deep Adaptation, UK; Dr. Yves Cochet, Former Minister of the Environment, France, Institut Momentum, France; Professor Eva Lantsoght, Professor, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador; Professor William Rees, Professor Emeritus Ecological Economics, University of British Columbia, Canada; Dr. Aurelien Barrau, Professor of Astrophysics, Universite Grenoble-Alpes, France; James Engell, Professor, Harvard University Center for the Environment, US; Professor Yin Paradies, Professor of Race Relations, Deakin University, Australia; Dr. Rupert Read, University of East Anglia, UK; Dr. Igor Polskiy, board member, GEN-Russia, Russia; Dr. Carola Kloeck, Assistant professor, Sciences Po Paris, France; Dr. Lajos Brons, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Lakeland University Japan; Dr. Morgan Phillips, Director, The Glacier Trust, UK.
Meet the signatories
Dr Malika Virah Sawmy is from Mauritius, and for a decade worked on
sustainable development in Africa, with WWF, UNDP and others. Now she is on the
board of the Deep Adaptation Forum, which focuses on collapse readiness. She
hosted an emotions sharing space within the blue zone at COP26:
"I grieve that neither the climate revolution nor the participation
revolution will happen in the intergovernmental sphere. At a time of
crisis, I am in pain that COP26 is being felt by the global South as the
least inclusive COP. A 21 year old Latvian shared her wisdom with
me at COP26. " I see that we cannot change decision making here (at
COP26)", she said, "but we can escape the delusion that they will do
it for us. We can return to our communities open eyed and contribute from the
ground to a new climate revolution".
Professor Jem Bendell teaches a sustainable leadership course at the University of Cumbria and has
over 100 publications on the topic of corporate sustainability. He led the team
that drafted the letter:
“For decades, since 1995, I promoted voluntary corporate alliances for
sustainability. Today it’s concerning to see them used as an excuse for
government inaction on the kind of economic transformation needed to save lives
as our climate goes crazy. Those of us who have experience in corporate
sustainability and responsible finance know that despite decades of effort it
has not significantly reduced the destruction of our planetary home. Those
efforts could only ever be a complement to bold government action to redesign
the basics of our economy, including banking and corporate law.”
Professor Bendell is now the publisher of the Deep
Adaptation Quarterly, which explores readying for societal disruption and collapse. He
continues:
"I think it is time my colleagues in the corporate sustainability
field say publicly what they know privately. Which is that our economic system
is at fault for the climate and ecological crisis, and whereas voluntary
responses won't transform everything sufficiently, they can distract us from
challenging power. Let's not be complicit in the lie that survival through
reform is possible. Executives can keep improving their organisations, but not
pretend that's the answer to our predicament. Instead, we can join efforts
towards a Real Green Revolution. We can then open up to learning what kept us
so cautious for so long and learn from the people and knowledge we previously
ignored."
Dr. Virah-Sawmy at COP26, third from left, with colleagues after facilitating Deep Adaptation sessions for delegates. Free of copyright or credits.
Full list of signatories in alphabetical order
'The International Scholars Warning on
the Corporate-Capture of the Climate Agenda and Need for a Real Green
Revolution' is a public letter
released on Friday November 12th 2021. All the
following persons have PhDs or professional doctorates. Their institutional
affiliation is shown for information only, as they all signed in a personal
capacity. The letter is now closed to new signatures. If you have a doctorate
you can consider signing the ‘International Scholars Warning on Societal
Disruption and Collapse’, via www.scholarswarning.net
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