Some of the organizations that came together at the Gulf Coast Fair Climate Summit have been working together to develop a set of Fair Climate recommendations to advocate for at the federal and international level. Below are the recommendations we have developed through this working group.
If you’d like to join us in advocating for these recommendations or participate in other events and activities that they groups are organizing, check out our working group web page and get in touch to get involved.
“From Katrina to Copenhagen: Promoting a Fair Climate Agenda”
Fair Climate Recommendations to Proposed Federal and International Climate Change Policies
1. Protect the human right to live in a healthy environment.
2. Ensure that climate change policies are aligned with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.
3. Protect communities that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change and those burdened by pollution from fossil-fuel/oil-based chemical production facilities with a focus on health, education, and livelihoods.
4. Support the resiliency of indigenous tribes and poor communities.
5. Ensure that vulnerable communities, and women from vulnerable communities, are included in all levels of decision-making climate change policies.
6. Protect against racial and ethnic discrimination and gender inequities that occur from past and current governmental preparations and responses to disasters caused by extreme weather.
7. Require best practices in coastal restoration, flood protection, and disaster mitigation at local, state, national, and international levels.
8. Require environmentally sustainable building materials and climate resilient construction in communities vulnerable to extreme weather events.
9. Address the poor management of water resources, and the depletion and impairment of water resources from rising temperatures and unsustainable development.
10. Establish benchmarks for transitioning from fossil fuel reliance to bringing renewable energy production online.
11. Require greenhouse gas reduction targets and regulations to be based on the global science to mitigate climate change.
12. Ensure a “just transition” for workers in non-renewable energy industries/related fields and communities that addresses job loss, loss of tax base, and environmental impacts.
