An alert from the US Section of the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
You Can Learn, Watch, and Act!
COP 26 – The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference
Sunday, October 31 to Friday, November 12, Glasgow, Scotland
This is the most important climate change conference since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement

Join a local event on Friday, November 5 and Saturday, November 6: Fridays for Future Climate Strike and Saturday Global Day of Action for Climate Justice. See details in the schedule below.

Learn and Watch panels, events and actions during the entire Conference by registering on-line for “virtual” attendance. See the schedule and more information below.

The People’s Summit for Climate Justice, November 7-10 will have a wide selection of panels and cultural events arranged by four themes:

  • Multiple Crises
  • Strategies and Tactics
  • The More Than Human
  • Visions for the Future.

What’s at stake?
In 2015, country pledges to cut carbon emissions were voluntary, but none of the largest greenhouse gas emitters have achieved their pledged reductions. Additionally, the military was not required to report its carbon footprint.

The UN planned to assess those commitments in five years. With the 2020 meeting cancelled because of COVID, COP 26 is now the last chance for countries to commit to serious action by 2030 to head off catastrophic climate breakdown and disastrous consequences for people and the planet.

Two parallel gatherings

1. COP 26: the 2021 United Nations Climate Change "Conference of Parties"

A WILPF International delegation – including members of the Environmental Working Group – will be at the COP26 meetings, and other events and demonstrations with banners and signs.

2. People’s Summit for Climate Justice: Nov. 7-10. This gathering is organized by the COP26 Coalition and includes 150 sessions bringing together movements from across the world for system change.


The People’s Summit is a global convergence space for movements, campaigns and civil society and will provide an alternative to the business as usual of false solutions and inaction from rich nations and corporations.

Climate justice is about recognizing the interconnectedness of our struggles. The People’s Summit includes representatives of civil society and organizations from around the world: Indigenous People, women, youth, climate, environmental and Rights of Natures activists, labor organizations, food sovereignty and health organizers, cultural workers, and peace and anti-militarism/anti-war groups.
 
Join the People’s Summit Online

  • Register for free here and explore the programme here, Not all panels will be live-streamed. Also see the schedule below.
  • Sign up for the Movement Assemblies daily schedule: live-streamed report backs from UN FCCC negotiations, a space to develop responses and actions, and host daily discussions on strategy questions facing the global movement.
  • Follow COP26 Coalition reporting of the entire UN Conference and COP26 Coalition panels, events and actions; on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter @COP26_Coalition. 
 
You may wish to check whether these particular peace and anti-militarism sessions will be live-streamed: 
  • Challenging the Military Carbon Bootprint
  • Climate Colonialism and Climate Justice
  • U.S. Militarism, Space Tech, and Climate Crisis
  • Shadow World Film Screening

What should happen?
World leaders, financial and technical experts must negotiate and decide on the commitments their governments will make to cut emissions by 2030 and accelerate actions to:

  • Keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees C / 2.7 degrees F, compared to pre-industrial levels. Will the major fossil fuel producing countries – China, the US, Russia, for example – make the needed commitments? 
  • Ensure climate justice and equity, leaving no one, no community, no country behind. Will developed countries collectively commit to fund and assist less developed countries with technical assistance and needed climate adaptation and mitigation planning and implementation?
 
Justice won’t be delivered to us by leaders and corporations.
We must imagine and build the future that works for us all!
 
The People’s Summit is a global convergence space for movements, campaigns and civil society and will provide an alternative to the business as usual of false solutions and inaction from rich nations and corporations. 
Schedule of Events and People’s Summit parallel to the UN Conference

Sponsored by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the UK. This Day of Action brings together the broad and growing coalition of peace and environmental organizations.

The demands include:
  • Action against all forms of conflict and militarism
  • That the carbon boot print of militaries be included in this climate agreement, in order to account for the effect of militarism on the environment and the climate costs of the military’s contribution to climate change.
 
NOV. 5 – FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE CLIMATE STRIKE
Join a local event and take your signs and banners. Suggestions for signs – 
  • #Uproot the System! #NoMoreEmptyPromises! #NoWarNoWarming
  • End Fossil Fuel Extraction!  No More Empty Promises! There’s No Planet B!
  • System Change Not Climate Change! Divest from Fossil Fuels!
 
Find a local or nearby event on this map and participate with signs and banners. Wear your WILPF US Sash. Please send pictures for Earth Democracy to Nancy Price at earthdemocracy@wilpfus.orgt

For complete information on the Rally in Glasgow and speakers list with Greta Thunberg, Naomi Klein, Ilhan Omar and many others, and the global rallies, sign up here and get reminders for your time zone.

These organized, decentralized mass mobilizations across the world, bring together movements to build power for system change – from indigenous struggles to trade unions, from racial justice groups to youth strikers.

NOV. 9 – GENDER DAY
UN-organized to highlight that women and girls are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change and pay a higher price and to celebrate gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in climate policy and action. This is when many women’s climate justice and environmental groups will be presenting feminist key demands.

World leaders, financial and technical experts, and corporate CEOs discuss and negotiate, what will they achieve?

The COP26 Coalition is bringing together the climate justice, peace, anti-war, women’s, Indigenous People’s and Youth movements to discuss, learn, and strategize together for system change NOW!
There is no Planet B!

At every opportunity, display your WILPF banner!
Your support helps WILPF reach farther and be more effective. Consider a donation to WILPF today to demonstrate your solidarity with our work.
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom/US Section
Friends House | PO Box 13075 | Des Moines, IA 50310 | 617-266-0999 | www.wilpfus.org


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