Tell government officials: Reject Big Polluters’ “net zero” scamming. Real solutions now!
Government officials around the world
The world is facing an accelerating climate crisis—and it’s impacting the lives of billions of people in the Global South, people of color, women, frontline communities, and Indigenous communities first and worst.
For decades, Big Polluters have fueled climate denial, perpetuated environmental racism, and interfered in policy. Now, as more and more people around the world demand climate action, they’re continuing to position themselves as part of the solution -- and more and more, that means trumpeting plans to achieve “net zero” emissions.
But as a recent report from more than 70 climate justice groups reveals, these “net zero” plans are not the solution. “Net zero” means letting polluters keep polluting and extracting—while making vague promises to invest in risky, untested technology or pay others to compensate for their emissions through deeply flawed, even fraudulent, schemes. “Net zero” is core to Big Polluters’ push to maintain their profits and the status quo.
Whatever PR spin they use, the push for “net zero” is already serving Big Polluters’ ends: It’s distracting policymakers and the public from real and just solutions to address the climate crisis that would disrupt business as usual. And these delays are already having deadly consequences for people on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
This is unacceptable. We already have the real solutions we need to address the climate crisis—and Indigenous leaders, people in the Global South, women, and others on the frontlines have been demanding them for years. What we need is political will to overcome Big Polluters’ schemes.
Add your name to demand that governments reject “net zero,” hold polluters accountable, truly reduce emissions, and advance real solutions now.
Sponsored by
To:
Government officials around the world
From:
[Your Name]
The world is facing an accelerating climate crisis. And more and more people are demanding climate action. In response, governments and corporations alike are increasingly adopting “net zero” climate plans as their benchmark for climate action.
But the evidence is clear: These “net zero” climate plans are not the answer we need. Recent research and analysis has emphasized what people on the front lines of the climate crisis, including communities in the Global South, have been warning for years: Polluter-driven climate “action” is not justice. And the math of “net zero” simply doesn’t add up.
Polluters’ “net zero” plans are fundamentally incompatible with keeping global temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius as agreed in the Paris Agreement. “Net zero” is a distraction that risks even more damage to the climate—with devastating impacts first and foremost on the lives of people of color, Indigenous communities, women, and people in the Global South. And at its core, the concept is being used by Big Polluters to avoid accountability and maintain business as usual.
We can and must reduce carbon emissions to Real Zero, not “net zero.” And we have real and just solutions already close at hand. The same people on the front lines of the climate crisis have laid them out clearly and have been demanding them for years. We need political will and courageous leadership from people like you to implement these solutions and hold polluters accountable.
We have no more time to waste with Big Polluter-driven delays, denial, and distractions like these “net zero” climate plans. Real leadership in this moment means real emissions reductions and real, just solutions.
That’s why I’m joining with the movement of people around the world calling on you to reject Big Polluters’ interference in policymaking, whether through their “net zero” agenda or other means, hold them accountable for fueling the climate crisis, and implement science-based and equitable policies that will drastically reduce emissions and advance real solutions.