Promise

Five years ago, on December 12, 2015, world leaders agreed on the Paris Agreement. By doing so, they made a  promise to the world, to those at the frontlines, and to all future generations: to tackle the climate emergency and limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees. 

Since then, leaders worldwide have still failed to treat the climate crisis as a crisis. After five years, we understand that there is clearly no point in simply asking our leaders to live up to the promise they made in Paris. It is time for us to make our own promises. 

We are currently experiencing what a 1.2C degree warmer world looks like, and this is already a catastrophe. It is burning, it is flooding, it is melting, species are going extinct, people are drowning and dying of thirst. We are getting closer and closer to disastrous and irreversible tipping points. In the absence of leadership, we are making this promise – to each other, and to the planet – WE will demand change and accountability. WE will fight for the world we want.

The science is clear about the consequences of global heating reaching 2C degrees. Yet leaders still discuss it as a target. This is unacceptable. The current reality of 1.2C degrees is already inhumane and atrocious. World leaders have no right to speak about net-zero by 2050 targets as if this is the height of ambition. Limiting our ambition to net-zero by 2050 is a death sentence for many. It is a slap in the face that when the pandemic hit, our leaders’ priority was to bail out the fossil fuel industry, not those on the frontlines of these crises. These so-called leaders have no right to speak about “ambition”. 

The need for rapid, fundamental system change is clear. Until we have systems in place to protect the people and planet, everyone but the wealthiest is faced with increased uncertainty and poverty. The transition does not just have to be faster, but also fairer – for the many, and not the few. We cannot go back to normal. Normality was already a crisis  – a crisis of inequality, destruction of nature, and climate. Those who did not notice are just too privileged to do so. The system is not broken, it was built to be unjust. 

Decision-makers have a choice to make. Meanwhile, more and more people are realizing that all the risks and injustices the world is experiencing have the same root causes. More and more are tapping into what many of us have forgotten — a sense of unity as we stand up for a fairer, cleaner, safer, and healthier world.  Our supposed leaders are not fighting for the well-being of the planet and its people. So we commit to go out on the streets, to yell, to strike, to build campaigns and form connections, to demand more, and to grow into stronger, more powerful movements until they are ready to fight with us and not against us. 

It is up to us, the people, across the planet, from every generation, to organise, mobilise, and bring about the change we want to see in the world. We will not stop because we know we deserve a safe and just present, and a green and sustainable future for all.

We promise to keep fighting for the world we need, to fight for 1.5.