Climate & Energy

Proponents of the feminist care perspective, in which the focus is on caring for people and nature, consider that the concept of the green economy (as it has been discussed so far) does not lead to fundamental change because it does not break with the dogma of growth or with the economy’s one-dimensional focus on the market and production.

Twenty years ago during the first Earth Summit, women organized a Women’s Action Agenda for a Healthy Planet. As their motto, they proclaimed: “Women do not want to be mainstreamed into a polluted stream: We want the stream to be clean, clear and healthy.”

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development projects that, “As global population grows to an expected 9 billion people by 2050…we will need 2.5 Earths to meet current demand.”

The UN General Assembly has designated 2012 as the International Year of Universal Energy Access, and the UN system has undertaken a global initiative on Sustainable Energy for All by 2030, led by the UN Foundation.

In its tar sands, Canada has the biggest oil reserves worldwide after Saudi Arabia. While delaying climate action at home, the Canadian government is undermining international efforts in fighting climate change. Low carbon fuel standards in the EU and California or the denial to build the Keystone XL pipeline through the US would be a major setback for Canada’s export of oil from tar sands.

The 2012 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is scheduled for June 20-22, 2012 – right "on the heels" of the Mexican G20 Summit on June 18-19, 2012. Will the G20 Summit support or undermine the goals of the 2012 Earth Summit? This paper describes the risk that, unless the G20 changes its orientation, it could undermine hopes for positive outcomes at the 2012 Summit.

The seven months long process to design a new Green Climate Fund, on which a 40 member Transitional Committee has embarked since the end of April, ended at the fourth TC Meeting in Cape Town with a "sub-optimal" outcome as TC members failed to reach a consensus on a draft governing instrument for the Fund.  

In light of the recent ecological, financial and economic crisis, criticizing the all-powerful paradigm of economic growth is necessary. But growth as will and representation not only pervades corporate headquarters, stock exchanges and ministries, but also our heads. The essay of Harald Welzer makes the mechanisms and principles distinct on which our ideals and wishes are based, and clears the way for change.

Presentation of winning essays "Impact of the climate crisis on the lives of women in region of Santander, Colombia" by Claudia Gimena Roa"Women at war, nature at peace" by Irina Tasias i Compte

During the Ontario Renewable Energy Tour, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Pembina Institute, the Climate Action Network Canada, and the United Church of Canada presented their report on Harvesting Clean Energy on Ontario Farms.