A couple of weeks ago we tuned into Al Gore’s Climate Reality update. The Climate Reality Project is an organisation that the former vice president founded in 2005, which now includes 50,000 members of the global community. We did Climate Reality Leadership training back in 2019 to equip ourselves with the knowledge to implement local tactics based on a global movement.

With record-breaking temperatures seen in most continents over the past 6 weeks, we’re bracing ourselves for what this summer’s going to be like in Australia. Coordinated action is key to avert further crises, and it’s focused on a just transition OFF fossil fuels and ON to renewable energies to meaningfully reduce carbon emissions. Scientists are baffled as to how corporations and governments are lagging on ever-clearer messages from both data and lived experiences of extreme weather. As a collective, they still send a message of hope, which Gore reinforces.

Al Gore says, “We know how to fix this. We can stop the temperatures going up worldwide with as little as a three-year time lag by reaching net zero,” he said. “And if we stay at true net zero, we’ll see half of the human-caused CO2 coming out of the atmosphere in as little as 30 years.”

Team Climate Reality recently called an urgent meeting and shared their strategy, which includes four key pillars for making change. Here’s what they had to say.

1. Reduce emissions

Reducing emissions is the first and vital step to reducing global warming and avoiding ever more extreme weather events. The goal is to:

• Halve global emissions by 2030 
• Stop new fossil fuel projects and shutting down existing infrastructure

What you can do

• Check your region for highest emitters using Climate Trace, and write to your local councillors about reducing emissions from these sites.
• Join Fight Fossil Fuels protests in September targeting the emitting corporations 

Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados and Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank. Kristy Sparow/Getty Images For Global Citizen

2. Finance a just transition to renewable energy

There must be greater investment in renewables and the inclusion of nations and communities previously left behind. And a break for those hit hardest. For example, in June the president of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, said that the World Bank would pause debt repayments for countries that were recently hit by a disaster. What else is needed: 

• Massive public investment in renewables
• Fair and accessible credit for global south nations to build thriving renewables economy
• A loss and damage fund that delivers to those experiencing the worst impacts now, to survive and recover

What you can do

• Send message to the World Bank to apply pressure to direct funds in these areas  

3. Call out greenwashing

Misinformation from fossil fuel companies and is slowing the transition to a renewables economy. There needs to be:

• Real accountability by exposing fossil fuel companies for their misinformation
• Truth in advertising
• End fossil fuel subsidies

What you can do

Identify and share examples of greenwashing in your national and local regions with Climate Reality who will use them to pressure fossil fuel companies.

Egyptian Foreign Minister and Egypt's COP27 President Sameh Shoukry attends an informal stocktaking session during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 18, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

4. Strengthening international cooperation at COP28

COP28 is the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November this year, where global climate strategies and actions will be agreed on per nation. How it needs to improve:

• Real ambition in COP28 – stop avoiding phase out plans for fossil fuels!
• True accountability for target 
• COP leadership that works for the planet by removing delegates that work for fossil fuel companies
• Reforming the negotiations process

What you can do

Send a message to US President Joe Biden to call for removal of current head of COP28, who is also the CEO of a national oil company. 

We recognise Climate Reality builds a largely US-centric narrative from a WEIRD perspective (Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich and Democratic), however we appreciate the inclusive alignment of a global community of people willing to take climate action. For an Australian take, listen to climate scientist, Joelle Gergis, on Schwarts Media’s 7am.

An estimated 100,000 people took to the streets for the climate march in Melbourne, September 2019