Cover image: Makoma Lekalakala at a march in Glasgow at COP26 with fellow Climate Justice Activists.
An under-whelming COP26 had eco-justice and human rights activists amplifying their calls for more inclusive reforms to address the climate crises, along with calls for more solid commitments to dump fossil fuels and nuclear energy, in favour of more renewable and climate-friendly energy sources.
The Life After Coal campaign (comprising the environmental justice groups groundWork and Earthlife Africa, and public interest environmental law group the Centre for Environmental Rights) calls for zero fossil fuels in electricity generation by 2040 at the latest, and a zero fossil fuel economy by 2050. Coal pollution is killing our people and destroying their health. This is a gross Constitutional and human rights violation that cannot continue.
Photo: Makoma Lekalakala (right) & Xoli Fuyani Environmental Education Project Manager from Earthchild
Project (left) at COP26 in Glasgow
The Sky’s Limit Africa Report, The Case for a Just Energy Transition from Fossil Fuel Production in Africa looks at why fossil fuel extraction does not equal development, jobs, or energy access. The report also looks at how fossil fuel industry plans are volatile and carry systemic economic and climate risks for Africa
Earthlife Africa Johannesburg also joined a host of civil society groups in a global call for a renewable energy future. The STOP!!! Don’t Nuke the Climate! statement unpacks 8 great reasons to stop pursuing nuclear.
And finally, the publication Neither Climate nor Jobs: Nuclear Myths about the Just Transition (from our partners the Heinrich Boell Foundation and Dr Neil Overy) ‘revisits the evidence to demonstrate that on any metric – reliability, emission reductions, costs, jobs and economic impact – nuclear is inferior to renewables.’
For more information about our work, follow Earthlife Africa Johannesburg on Facebook and Twitter.