Melbourne joins Global Day of action #COP26 - Moreland Climate CUP and XR Funeral for Koalas

In Melbourne the Moreland Climate Coalition held three covidsafe events in Moreland on Saturday, with other climate protests in the city and at St Kilda, as part of the Global day of action called by the COP26 Coalition in Glasgow.

This included calling the Moreland Climate CUP, the Race to Zero Emissions. Sunlight streaked ahead out of the gates from a slow start. Old King Coal sadly had to retire and be be put down. Of course we'll find a new job for the Old King Coal jockey. That is a matter of Just Transition.

Climatestrike: students continue pressure for Australian climate action

Tens of thousands of students and supporters across Australia engaged in protest calling for an end to fossil fuel projects and to ramp up renewables and increase Australia's weak climate targets.

In over 50 locations across Australia, in all capital cities, and in many regionals centres too, students left school on Friday to demand that the Morrison Government says no to funding dangerous gas and coal projects with Australians’ money and, as an alternative, invests in clean renewable energy, secure jobs and First Nations solutions to protect Country.

UNFCCC closes the door literally on civil society demanding climate justice at COP25

Multiple civil society organisations including indigenous and environmental groups co-ordinated a protest outside the main Plenary - Baker Room this afternoon, to protest the lack of action during this COP on multiple fronts, and the continuing attack on the space the civil society. The intention was to protest peacefully for 30 minutes outside Plenary Baker.

The protest was noisy, with chanting and singing. A few banners and small paper and cardboard signs. Security cordoned off the front of the plenary. It was a bit of a crush. and some people sat down. After5 about 20 miniues security pushed people to a rollerdoor to the outside, and then cordoned the door for several minutes before closing it. Locking all those people outside, many without their coats or bags, in the Madrid winter weather.

Huge climate march in Madrid calls for action from COP25 as world faces climate emergency

Madrid turned out on mass to send a message to the delegates in the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 at Feria de Madrid on Friday night. Organisers estimated 500,000 people. whether this number is accurate is irrelevant, the crowds were huge, families, activists, yoiung and old were present demanding climate justice and action in this time of climate emergency.

There mood was determined, but there was passion and dancing and chanting and singing as people walked the 5 kilometre route from Atochia to Neuvos Ministerios.

Social unrest in Chile at structural inequality and repression in leadup to COP25 climate conference

There was an estimated one million people on the streets of Santiago, Chile, and large numbers in cities up and down Chile on Friday 25 October, in peaceful protests calling for social justice, better pension system, addressing social inequality, resignation of President Piñera, and a new constitution.

This was triggered just over a week ago by a second fare hike to the Santiago Metro, with school students taking up the protests initially that broadened to general social protest at the cost of living and social inequalities with a deeply neoliberal economic system.

The social crisis is also an ecological crisis.

Escalating social unrest met with tanks and military on the streets of Chile in leadup to COP25

The last week has seen protests escalating in the streets of Santiago and other Chilean cities. This was triggered initially by students reacting against Santiago metro fare increase, the second increase this year. But it highlights poor pensions, a deteriorating health care system, and major social inequalities.

The situation in Chile is tense with a state of emergency declared and curfews imposed, tanks in the streets and troops using live rounds. Reminiscent of the junta years under General Pinochet.

Chile is nominally a constitutional democracy since early 1990s, with the present President Sebastián Piñera a member of the centre right National Renewal Party and a billionaire.

Melbourne's Extinction Rebellion Declaration Day

About 150 people attended Extinction Rebellion Day in Melbourne in the Treasury Gardens.

There was no blocking of bridges, no arrests made. It was a pretty tame affair, really. The Climate Guardian angels were present and provided a note of solemnity. Composer and choir master Stephen Taberner was there and gave a quick workshop on street chants.

There was a short march up to Treasury Place where the declaration was read out. A copy of the declaration was also handed to a security officer between the locked bars of the Australian Government offices.

US clean coal side-event with Australian ambassador disrupted at COP24

The Australian Ambassador for the Environment, Patrick Suckling, appeared on a panel for a US government side-event pushing clean coal technologies as climate solutions. The session on Monday 10 December was called: "U.S. Innovative Technologies Spur Economic Dynamism - Promoting innovative approaches".

One must ask was Ambassador Suckling's presence sanctioned at Ministerial level? His attendance on the panel is hardly good diplomacy for Australia, even given the Liberal Government support for coal and weak climate targets and climate policy.

After about 9 minutes the first speaker was disrupted and youth and civil society delegates unfurled a banner and made their own testimonies on the disruptive and dangerous nature of coal for health and climate.

They chanted "Keep it in the ground" and "Shame on you", before leaving the session. After they left, there were very few people to listen to the myths being spouted of clean coal.

School kids occupy Australian parliament foyer demanding 100% renewables, #stopAdani

Students involved in the National School Strike for Climate Actionjoined First Nations leaders from Seedmob, youth leaders from AYCC and climate experts to hold a peaceful occupation of approximately 100 people in the foyer of Federal Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday 5 December.

This follows a climate strike involving over 15,000 students and supporters on Friday 30 November in all capital cites and some 20 regional cities and towns.

The students are demanding:

• 1. Stop the Adani coal mine
• 2. No new coal or gas
• 3. 100% renewable energy by 2030

and requesting:

• 1. Host a climate change forum for school students in your electorate before the Federal Election
• 2. Take a photo with us and a StopAdani sign to demonstrate your opposition to the mine and support for our future.

Funeral for Our Future - Time to #stopAdani

Funeral for Our Future - a Service conducted by Stop Adani Melbourne and friends, officiated by Uniting Church Minister Rev Alex Sangster.

Included a Processional march by Riff Raff Marching Band, Songs lead by the Climate Choir, Eulogy for the Reef by Alan Cuthbertson from Stop Adani Melbourne, Eulogy for Nature by Joseph Birckhead and Audrey Cooke, Euology for Children's Future by teenager Marco Bellemo, Call to Action by Rev Alex Sangster and Marco Bellemo.

March for climate justice in Bonn at COP23 calls for end to coal

Latest report from Nofibs reporter John Englart in Bonn Germany for the UN Climate Change Conference:

In the immediate vicinity of the latest UN climate change conference COP23 and the largest lignite mining area of Europe, twenty five thousand people demonstrated for the immediate implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement in the city of Bonn, Germany, calling for climate justice and an end to coal.

Just ahead of the 23rd World UN Climate Conference (COP23) a broad alliance of civil society groups made clear that the Paris climate agreement needs to be followed by further action to phase out fossil fuels such as coal.

More than 100 climate, environmental and development organisations, citizen initiatives and churches from all over world supported the march and the call to action.

The regulars were at the march: including young communists from Belgium who were a very vocal and colourful group calling for system change. Die Grunen, Greenpeace, and Friends of the Earth were also there in abundance. I saw a banner for Germanwatch NGO (they do some powerful climate policy research and writing much in English) But there were also thousands of ordinary folk from Bonn and further afield who came to say it's long past time for action on climate change.

Somewhere between 800 and 1000 people participated in a cycling critical mass to attend the protest. I spoke to a person, originally from Manchester but currently living in Belgium, who had cycled to the event.

Though predominantly German and European, it had a fair share of internationals like myself attending, and speeches from the stage were in Deutsch and English. There were some powerful speakers in both languages.

It took quite some time for the march to leave MunsterPlatz and wind it's way through the streets Bonn to an end rally

Marshallese poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner recited one of her famous poems from the stage at the end rally. There were also activists with a soup kitchen feeding people hot food.

The Climate March sends a strong signal to the world’s leaders to take rapid action on fossil fuels and to step out of coal.

• For Australia, the Adani Carmichael coal mine needs to be stopped. It would be the largest coal mine in the southern hemisphere, and if this mine goes ahead, several more coal mines in the Galilee basin are likely. Australia needs to start a just transition phaseout of coal mining for local production and consumption and the global export market. Read previous report: Australia and Coal at Bonn
• Without further action, the world is on track for dangerous global warming. The lives and livelihoods of millions of people are under threat, entire island states are in danger of disappearing from rising sea-levels. Only decisive and rapid action in all countries can deliver a safe climate for all. Tackling climate change means a rapid phase out of fossil fuels, including the burning of coal and sufficient support for poor countries suffering from the impacts of climate change.
• Globally, a third of oil reserves, half of gas reserves and over 80 per cent of current coal reserves should remain under the ground in order to stay below 2°C, according to Ekins and McGlade (2015) See my 2015 article: 95 percent of Australian coal, 88 percent of Global Fossil Fuel reserves need to remain unburned - Implications for Queensland.
  
• Coal has no future and is already in structural decline. All over the world, renewables are rapidly expanding, being cleaner and cheaper than fossil fuels. To date, six countries, states, provinces or cities have completely phased out coal power since 2014, and an additional 17 have announced a coal power phase-out date of 2030 or sooner, advises Greenpeace.
• Our governments need to stop financing coal and fossil fuels and take concrete actions to foster the transition to a 100% renewable energy future. This is the only way we'll keep global warming below 1.5c.
• We need clean energy systems in the hands of people and a just transition which ensures no one is left behind. Coal workers and their communities are already in steep decline. They need strong support, now, to build new lives with clean renewable jobs and other economic opportunities.

Stop Adani climate protest occupies Downer EDI office: Don't get into bed with Adani

About 20 Activists this morning occupied the Melbourne offices of Downer, an infrastructure company, to protest participation in developing the Adani Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin of Queensland, widely seen as a climate carbon bomb with no social license.

The Adani Carmichael coal mine is a climate carbon bomb that would push temperatures well past the 2 degrees C limit that countries set in Paris UN climate Conference in 2015 at COP21. Research shows that Australia needs to leave 95 percent of it's coal in the ground unexploited and unburnt to stand a reasonable chance of not exceeding the 2C target.

In January 2015 it was announced that Downer EDI had won a $2 billion contract for works at Adani’s Carmichael coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin, according to Australian Mining.

Victorian Liberals declare war on renewable targets, jobs, investment

The Liberal party in three states - Victoria, South Australia and Queensland - vowed to drop state based renewable energy targets if elected. This follows Federal Liberal Party war on renewables and climate policy conducted since Abbott took power in 2013, continued under Prime Minister Turnbull.

While climate action at the Federal level has followed a rollercoast ride in the past two decades, states are increasingly taking more action to protect their citizens.

In the latest round of attacks at the Federal level, Manchester University climate change PhD student Marc Hudson argues that what we are seeing is not actually a policy battle, but a politics battle, and one that has been going on since at least 2000.

With reduction of the federal Renewable Energy Target and no plan as yet to extend it, the Labor states of South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, and the ACT, have all set in motion state renewable energy targets.

Shining a light in Melbourne on Reef not Coal

Originally posted at Climate Action Moreland

Last night I ventured to Federation Square. I had heard that Nemo and Dory were in town.

The Climate Guardian angels were also there poignantly making a statement with a piece of the redline ribbon from Paris COP21 last year. The redline derives from diplomatic symbolism for a boundary or limit which should not be crossed. No new coal mines or other fossil fuels is one such boundary for a safe climate, backed up by research by McGlade and Ekins (2015) (See Unburnable carbon: why we need to leave fossil fuels in the ground). Two of the Angels present are from our Climate Action Moreland group.

Seems the East Australian current is warmer and going further south. The Tasman sea has warmed by over 2 degrees C in the last 70 years - it's a global sea surface temperature hotspot. That's climate change for you.

Climate blocker Josh Frydenberg's office shut down for climate crimes

Climate activists invaded the campaign office of Energy and Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg on Burke Rd, Camberwell in Melbourne. The climate campaign organisation 350.org have listed Josh Frydenberg as a 'Climate Blocker' on their website.

About fifty people turned up around 9.30 this morning with 12 people aged from 19 to 76 occupying the office, while others decorated the outside of the office with Climate crime scene tape, draped climate emergency banners, and signs about global warming impact on the Great Barrier Reef.

Chevron, BP Perth HQ targeted by #Breakfree2016 climate activists

This article was originally featured at nofibs.com.au

The protest included a march and street sit-in, office occupation, and a sit-in occupation in the foyer of the QV1 building, the Perth Headquarters for BP and Chevron in Western Australia. John Englart reports using social media.

Perth is home to the largest concentration of oil and gas companies with more than 300 international companies in the sector now based in the city. Western Australia is also a regional base for more than 40 major oilfield service companies.

Climate protestors close down Newcastle coal port for #Breakfree2016 as Federal election called

When the politics has failed in taking necessary rapid climate action, more people will step up, to protest, to put their bodies on the line in civil disobedient actions. As part of the Global BreakFree mobilisation Australians blockaded Newcastle coal port on Mothers Day, Sunday 8 May 2016. This article is derived from my live blog on Storify of the protest in Newcastle. 350Australia also live blogged the protest

The protest drew more than 2,000 people to Horseshoe Beach, one of the largest climate protests against coal in the NSW regional city of Newcastle. More than 60 people, including a flock of climate angels and Bill Ryan a 94 year old Kokoda veteran from World War II, have been arrested, charged and released for blockading the Kooragang Island rail bridge that is used for transporting coal to the port. Another 4 people were arrested for locking on to coal terminal equipment and banner drop at the coal wharf.

Wales: #breakfree occupation of Ffos-y-fran opencut coal mine

Welsh climate activists invoked the mythical red dragon to say 'Break Free from fossil fuels' and 'No New Coal'. A red puppet dragon was used in the civil disobedient occupation of the Ffos-y-fran open cut mine in South Wales on May 3. This is the largest open cast coal mine in the United Kingdom.

About 300 people walked on to the minesite at 5.30am and shut down all operations for the day. With the peaceful occupation, no arrests were reported. The activists were part of the global #BreakFree protests targeting coal and fossil fuel infrastructure around the world.

Miller Argent is the corporation responsible for Ffos-y-fran. They are planning a new huge coal pit just next door at Nant Llesg. They have been met with resistance from the local community to stop their mine expansion which would destroy common land that offers grazing and wildlife biodiversity.

Philippines: 10,000 march to #BreakFree from #coal in Batangas city

Twenty seven coal power stations are planned for construction in the Philippines. As part of the global #BreakFree protests, around 10,000 Filipinos marched in Batangas City on May 4 demanding an end to coal and transition to renewable energy. The protest comes just five days before national elections.

People and civil society groups are demanding that the next Philippines administration cancel all proposed coal plants nationwide and hasten a transition to renewable energy, according to a Greenpeace statement.

Climate activists stage protest outside #LNG18 in Perth

The Gas Industry and all the big fossil fuel companies have come to Perth to talk exploitation of fossil fuels regardless of the climate imperative agreed to in Paris in December 2015. They were greeted on the opening night by climate activists.

The 18th International Conference and Exhibition on Liquefied Natural Gas has brought together the fossil fuel industry to discuss production efficiencies with the current low prices in LNG, and work out how they can continue to maximise drilling and exploitation into the future. There was a Welcome to Country and headline speeches by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett.

Major companies at the conference include Chevron, Shell, Inpex, ConocoPhillips, Total and Woodside Petroleum.