Green councillors sign up to10:10

Last week Green councillor, Fi MacMillan helped launch 10:10 in London on behalf of the District Council - Stroud is one of the first ten to sign up - see report here - all Green party District councillors in Stroud are all signed up (see photo) - now Fi is hoping many others will also sign. See press release here that I sent out this week.

As Fi says this looks set to become one of the biggest ever civil society campaigns. The Copenhagen talks are still looking bleak so we need all the pressure we can muster to put on the key decision makers in the coming months. Stroud District Council's action to sign up is to be applauded - indeed politicians from across the board are supporting 10:10 and signing the pledge to make efforts to reduce their carbon footprints by 10% during the year 2010. Go to their website: www.1010uk.org

Indeed yesterday the European Commission published its proposals setting out a framework for financing of international climate efforts, including the role of the EU. Here is what Green party leader Green MEP Caroline Lucas said:

"With around 100 days to go to the end of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, the EU urgently needs to adopt a concrete position on climate change financing for developing countries. Unfortunately, the proposals published by the Commission could jeopardise the negotiations by trying to heap a disproportionate share of the burden onto developing countries. The Commission's estimations on the required amount of climate financing for developing countries are on the low side (€66-80bn per annum) compared with other recent estimations. On top of this, the Commission claims that only €22-50bn per annum (by 2020) should be accounted for by public financing. This figure is clearly artificially low and smacks of politicking, with the negotiations in mind. Setting the figure too low could jeopardise the commitment of developing countries to a UN climate deal.

"The Commission calculates that EU share of the responsibility for international public financing for climate efforts in developing countries could be 10-30%. Clearly, it needs to be close to the top end of this scale to realistically reflect the responsibility of the EU, based on its historical emissions and its ability to pay, not just its share of current emissions. Overall, the underlying assumptions show that the Commission sees most of the global emissions reductions by 2020 taking place in developing countries. This is a clear renouncement of EU's purported leadership on climate change and ignores the EU's responsibility. The EU has committed to the goal of limiting global warming to less than 2 degrees. If it is serious, it will need to urgently step up its effort, committing to domestic emissions reductions of at least 40% by 2020, as well as climate financing in the region of €35bn. Anything less risks making the 2 degree goal completely unattainable and thereby opens the door to dangerous climate change."

It seems we need 10:10 more than ever. As noted before, the campaign organisers, led by Franny Armstrong, the film-maker behind The Age of Stupid, hope 10:10 could replicate the way the 2005 Make Poverty History (MPH) movement captured the public imagination and helped to drive political change on debt relief.

Kevin McCloud, who wrapped-up the launch said: 'If you all go out and get 10 people to sign up to 10:10 and get them to sign up another 10 people on Friday, then by next Tuesday the whole planet will have signed up and we will have won.' Kevin is onto something!

Notes: Read more and sign up for 10:10: http://www.1010uk.org/ See Guardian coverage and video of launch: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/10-10 Read George Monbiot comment here.