We’ve got an important message to get out there today OMBLES and there is a great prize to be won for the winning submission!
One Minute Brief of the Day:
Create posters highlighting that the world is going to continue to act on climate change - regardless of the US elections result. #WeAreMovingAhead
Tweet your entries to @OneMinuteBriefs and @ClimateNewsHub with the hashtags #COP29 & #WeAreMovingAhead
Prizes:
WINNER: £300 CASH!!!
Runner-Up: £200 CASH!!
3rd Place: £100 CASH!
About:
Climate change has devastated communities all over the world in 2024 - from deadly floods in Spain, to Central Europe’s worst flooding in two decades, to the strongest typhoon to hit Vietnam in decades, to record-hot ocean temperatures causing the highest death toll from a hurricane in the mainland US since 2005. The list, tragically, goes on.
Meanwhile, the United States has elected a new president: Donald Trump. Given Trump’s past statements attacking climate science and renewables and praising fossil fuels, you’d be forgiven for thinking that’s not great news for the climate. And it’s not.
But that’s only one part of the story. In the U.S., 2,931 businesses, 352 local governments, 827 faith groups, 51 healthcare organizations and many others are still committed to driving forward action on climate change - on moral grounds, but also on economic grounds as renewables continue to become even cheaper than fossil fuels in many parts of the world and the cost of disaster clean-up continues to rise. And institutions like this can achieve a lot without federal support - together, non-federal institutions in the U.S. could cut national emissions by almost half in the next 10 years.
Globally, too, 195 of the 196 governments who signed the Paris Agreement are moving forward. The amount of climate finance countries have pledged to help others do things like reduce their emissions or adapt to the effects of climate change has tripled over the last decade, for example.
That’s the positive message for OMBLES to get out ahead of COP29 next week, the most important climate summit of the year, where delegates from almost 200 countries will be in Azerbaijan for UN negotiations to set a crucial new goal for how much money wealthier countries will pledge to support the world in its transition away from fossil fuels and adaptation to climate change. It was never going to be easy - but the energy transition has huge momentum behind it. The US, and the world, is committed, no matter what Trump says. Now it's time for them to show that at COP29! #WeAreMovingAhead.
In short:
Large parts of the U.S. are still committed to the green energy transition, no matter what. 2,931 businesses, 352 local governments, 51 healthcare organizations and many others are driving action - representing 65% of the U.S. population and 68% of U.S. GDP.
The energy transition is inevitable. Trump couldn't stop it before and won't stop it now. The US invested over $50 billion in renewables in 2019 alone, despite Trump’s anti-renewable policies. And globally, investment in solar and wind has increased steadily from even before 2016.
Countries are working together on climate because it’s in their mutual interest. 195 of the 196 governments who signed the Paris Agreement are moving forward. The amount of climate finance countries have pledged to help others do things like reduce their emissions or adapt to the effects of climate change has tripled over the last decade.
Sources for inspiration:
https://about.bnef.com/blog/renewable-energy-investment-hits-record-breaking-358-billion-in-1h-2023/
