This event is exclusive to Friends of Tortoise
in partnership with the ANZ Coalition
The Tortoise Climate Summit: Is a fair transition faster?
Join us and have your say at the second Climate Summit. We are focused on solutions and want to hear from as many voices as possible.
How it works
We’ll be running six sessions over the course of the summit. Your ticket gives you access to the whole day, but just like an in-person conference you can dip in and out. Click the button below to register.
In the final hours of Cop26, a commitment to “phase out” coal became a commitment only to “phase down”. India and China objected to the categorical language, and so watered down the ambition. Why? Most developing countries rely on coal and don’t, unlike developed countries, have as much renewable capacity or the option to burn oil and gas instead. Not all countries could move at the same pace. The proposal wasn’t equitable.
What does this tell us? We have to accelerate the race to net zero. But if we don’t bring everyone along, there’s a chance we won’t get to the goal of net zero at all. In this Tortoise Climate Summit, we want to test the idea that the transition will only be fast if it is also fair.
about us
Tortoise is building a different kind of newsroom. We’re opening up journalism and giving everyone a seat at the table. The ThinkIn is the heart of what we do. It’s a forum for civilised disagreement where our members take part in live, unscripted conversations that shape the way we report the world.
Framing the day
Tortoise editors will welcome guests and present the plan for the day. We want to test the idea that the transition will only be fast if it is also fair.
Can we fight climate change in the courtroom?
For more than two decades prosecutors have repackaged the same legal arguments against fossil fuel producers. They say such companies are not moving fast enough. But the results in court have been mixed. Is the law really an effective tool to force companies to move faster and drive up countries’ emissions targets? Or is it all for show?
Can farmers fix the climate crisis?
If this small, archipelago nation is to hit net zero, the government must make radical choices about how the UK’s finite landmass is used for food, carbon sequestration, and nature. It can’t keep propping up livestock farms which aren’t economically viable, don’t contribute many calories to the nation, have low biodiversity and sequester little carbon. But politically, it can’t abandon them either. Can fair incentives for farmers help put the land on track to net zero?
Climate damage: who pays the bill?
Less developed countries are demanding compensation for the loss and damage they suffer as a result of the climate change developed nations have created. So far, developed nations haven’t delivered that money. In this session, we will examine why doing so could bring LDCs to the table on mitigation measures.
Is fixing West Virginia the secret to fighting climate change?
The US can’t ask other countries to move faster if it isn’t moving fast itself. But US climate policy is being held up by the fears of post-industrial communities that they’ll lose their livelihoods in the transition. In this session we’ll examine whether measures to reassure US workers of their role in the green economy could put the world’s largest economy on track to net zero.
Should we stop flying?
Aviation has never been equitable. Just 1 per cent of people cause half of global aviation emissions. And while flying accounts for a relatively small percentage of global emissions – 3.5 per cent when CO2 and non-CO2 impacts are taken into account – it is really hard to decarbonise. In this session, we will test the idea that to go faster on aviation, we can’t rely on unproven tech. We have to make it more equitable. And in this case, that means driving down demand among the world’s wealthy. They must believe it is fair that they fly less.
In partnership with the Accelerating Net Zero Coalition
If you are interested in joining the Accelerating Net Zero Coalition please get in touch to find out more..
Editors
Giles Whittell
Sensemaker editor, Tortoise
Jeevan Vasagar
Editor, Our Planet, Tortoise
Ellen Halliday
Sensemaker editor, Tortoise
Speakers
Minette Batters
President, National Farmers’ Union of England and Wales
Emma Howard Boyd
Chair, Environmental Agency
Dr. Saleemul Huq
Director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development
Eugene Linden
investigative writer and author of ‘Fire and Flood’ A people’s history of climate change.
James Van Nostrand
Professor and director, Center for Energy and Sustainable Development, WVU College of Law
Evan Hansen
Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates
Cait Hewitt
Policy Director, Aviation Environment Federation
Anna Hughes
Director, Flight Free UK
Sebastian Mikosz
Senior Vice-President for Environment Sustainability at the International Air Transport Association (IATA)
