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	Our addiction to fossil fuels causes climate emergency, say human rights experts by UN Office for Human Rights, agencies   UN human rights experts call for an end to society's addiction to fossil fuels ahead of the Climate Action Summit in September 2019. They issue the following statement:   "Burning coal, oil, and gas produce the vast majority of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in the global climate emergency that endangers human rights in every region of the planet.   "Twenty-seven years after all States committed to tackling the challenge of climate change through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the share of the world's energy provided by fossil fuels remains unchanged at 81 percent. Since 1990, global energy consumption has grown 57 percent, with coal consumption up 68 percent, oil use up 36 percent and natural gas use up 82 percent.   Climate change is already causing increased frequency, intensity and duration of extreme weather events, melting of glaciers and ice sheets, rising sea levels, storm surges, saltwater intrusion, ocean acidification, changes in precipitation, flooding, heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, increased air pollution, desertification, water shortages, the destruction of ecosystems, biodiversity loss and the spread of water-borne and vector-borne disease.   Among the human rights being threatened and violated by climate change are the rights to life, health, food, water and sanitation, a healthy environment, an adequate standard of living, housing, property, self-determination, development and culture.   While fossil fuels have made an enormous contribution to economic prosperity, the environmental and social costs of their use are staggering. Millions of people die prematurely each year because of air pollution, while billions of people are adversely affected by the Earth's changing climate.   In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated that 'limiting global warming to 1.5C would require rapid, far-reaching, and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society'.   To meet the 1.5C target set by the Paris Agreement and limit the damage to human rights, urgent and effective actions must be implemented immediately to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030, phase out unabated fossil fuel burning by the middle of the century, and reverse deforestation.   In addition, indigenous peoples knowledge may prove essential to curb the effects of climate change: their ancestral knowledge and leadership, which have maintained many of humanity's forests, biodiversity and other resources, must be preserved. It is therefore crucial indigenous peoples rights be protected, including their right to freely and fully participate in shaping policy decisions, in particular regarding hydroelectric, wind or other projects which may be developed on their traditional homelands with the goal of reducing fossil fuels.   To empower and protect vulnerable populations requires mobilizing at least $100 billion in annual adaptation funding to assist low-income countries, and establishing a new fund, financed by an air passenger travel levy, to support small island developing States and least developed countries in addressing loss and damage caused by climate change. Wealthy countries and other large emitters must lead these efforts and provide the majority of the requisite financing.   Meeting the Paris Agreement target of 1.5C could save millions of lives every year, providing trillions of dollars in health and environmental benefits. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, energy storage and energy efficiency would create unprecedented economic opportunities. Measures must also be put in place to ensure a just transition, such as re-training and educational opportunities for workers in the coal, oil and gas industries.   A safe climate is a vital element of the right to a healthy environment and is absolutely essential to human life and well-being. In today's global climate emergency, meeting the obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights could help to spur the transformative changes that are so urgently required."   Nov. 2019   The Production Gap: The discrepancy between countries planned fossil fuel production and global production levels consistent with limiting warming to 1.5C or 2C report from the Internbational Institute for Sustainable Development, agencies.   Governments are planning to produce about 50% more fossil fuels by 2030 than would be consistent with a 2C pathway and 120% more than would be consistent with a 1.5C pathway.   These planned levels of fossil fuel production are also inconsistent with the collective climate pledges under the Paris Agreement. As a consequence, the global production gap is even larger than the already-significant global emissions gap.   The continued expansion of fossil fuel production and the widening of the global production gap is underpinned by a combination of ambitious national plans, government subsidies to producers, and other forms of public finance.   Several governments have adopted policies to restrict fossil fuel production, providing momentum and important lessons for broader adoption. International cooperation plays a central role in winding down fossil fuel production.   This report addresses the necessary winding down of the world's production of fossil fuels in order to meet climate goals. Though coal, oil, and gas are the central drivers of climate change, they are rarely the subject of international climate policy and negotiations.   This report aims to expand that discourse and provide a metric for assessing how far the world is from production levels that are consistent with global climate goals.   Specifically, this first Production Gap Report assesses the discrepancy between government plans for fossil fuel production and global production levels consistent with 1.5C and 2C pathways. This production gap tells us the magnitude of the challenge.   The report reviews, across 10 fossil-fuel-producing countries, the policies and actions that expand fossil fuel production and, in turn, widen the gap. It also provides policy options that can help countries better align production with climate goals.   This is especially relevant over the next year, as countries prepare new or updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which set out their new emission reduction plans and climate pledges under the Paris Agreement.   We review specific examples of support mechanisms from 10 key countries: seven of the top nine producing countries (China, United States, Russia, India, Australia, Indonesia, and Canada), and three significant producers with strongly stated climate ambitions (Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom).   These reviews show how national plans and projections of fossil fuel production steer expectations, policy, investment, and ultimately infrastructure toward global production levels that significantly exceed what would be consistent with the achievement of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) - let alone what would be compatible with Paris Agreement goals to keep warming well below 2C and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5C.   The report is a product of collaboration among Stockholm Environment Institute, IISD, ODI, Climate Analytics, CICERO and UNEP.   * Access the report: http://www.iisd.org/library/production-gap Visit the related web page
	The rise of financial investment and common ownership in global agrifood firms by Professor Jennifer Clapp School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo Canada   Financial investment in the food and agriculture sector has grown in recent decades, including investment in equity-related funds that invest in or track the performance of a range of publicly traded transnational agrifood companies. At their height in recent years, equity-related investment funds accounted for around one third of financial investment in the sector.   Despite their significance, investment in the agrifood sector via these types of investment funds has received much less academic and policy attention than other types of financial investment, such as farm-land acquisition and commodity speculation.   This paper examines the rise of equity-related investment in the agricultural sector and analyzes its implications for the food system. It provides an overview and analysis of the available data on these investment vehicles, including their holdings (i.e. the companies in which they invest) and ownership (i.e. the investors who own shares in those companies).   This data shows a rise in common ownership of large agrifood firms by large asset management companies. The paper makes the case that this new pattern of investment in agrifood firms by large asset management firms has the potential to contribute to the already concentrated market power in the agrifood system: http://bit.ly/321h1Ay Visit the related web page
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