Campaigners at the Friends Meeting House in Bexhill.

Activists urge support for countries hit by climate change

Should climate change polluters pay compensation for the damaging effects of the pollution they cause? Members of Bexhill and Hastings Global Justice Now group think so, and recently held a Walk of Witness to urge action by the government on behalf of poorer countries facing huge bills due to climate change, as they report.

Local climate justice activists led a Walk of Witness around Bexhill town centre on Thursday 22 September, stopping outside town centre churches, the Buddhist Centre and the Mosque and finishing at the Town Hall. They were calling on the UK government to help set up an international climate compensation fund and to raise money for it by taxing fossil fuel companies.

Barbara Echlin from the Bexhill and Hastings GJN group said, “To those who question why we should pay into such a fund we respond: If someone damaged our car we would expect them to pay for it. Countries like Pakistan face huge financial strain because of climate change which we have caused with our historic carbon emissions. We are on this Walk of Witness today because we want our grandchildren to inherit a planet they can live on.”

The national day of action was organised by the Make Polluters Pay coalition, involving organisations such as Global Justice Now, Christian Aid, Faith for the Climate, Cafod, Green Christian, Stamp Out Poverty, Oxfam and the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition. Similar protests took place in Cambridge, Edinburgh, London, Lancaster, Nottingham, Portsmouth and Rotherham.

Climate vulnerable countries, such as small island states, have long argued that a ‘loss and damage’ compensation fund is necessary to help them rebuild after climate disasters, and that rich countries (who have contributed the most to global warming) should pay for it.

Youth activists including Vanessa Nakate and Greta Thunberg have previously talked about the need for rich countries to support proposals for loss and damage at UN climate talks.

However, richer countries such as the US, UK and EU nations have been accused of blocking these proposals and refusing to accept their historic responsibility for global warming.

Just five energy companies (Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and Total) made £50bn profit between April and June this year due to high energy prices. Because these companies have collectively contributed more than 10% of global historic carbon emissions, campaigners say that some of those profits should go towards an international loss and damage fund to compensate countries facing climate disasters.

For further information contact Barbara Echlin at bjechlin@btinternet.com or on 01424 219788.

Inside Bexhill mosque.

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