Author: Martin Rhodes – Chief Executive of Scottish Fair Trade Forum
The time for promises has passed. Now is the time for actions.
COP26 has been and gone. The SEC in Glasgow is back to hosting concerts and trade conferences. Among the presidents, prime ministers, special envoys, diplomats and government negotiators were also some other important visitors. Unfortunately, they didn’t get the same attention from the global media that gathered in Glasgow but their message is central to tackling climate change. Those visitors were there with Fairtrade Africa, the Central and Latin American Fairtrade network (CLAC) and the Asian and Pacific Fairtrade producer network (NAPP) as well as Fairtrade International.
At the start of COP26, these Fair Trade farmers and workers published an open letter asking for four key outcomes from COP26:
1. that there should be no delay in delivering on the promise to deliver $100bn in climate finance and that this climate finance should reach farmers and workers directly;
2. that nations are honest about their carbon emissions making sure that Net Zero commitments include targets and policies which will reduce emissions from imported goods, not just your domestic emissions;
3. that trade deals are agreed that drive trade in fair and low-carbon produce, helping farmers and businesses that invest in sustainability and tackling the climate crisis;
4. and that business regulations are strengthened so that businesses are encouraged to invest in sustainable supply chains, pay fair prices to farmers, and take ownership of the environmental issues in their supply chains.
This approach was also taken in the joint position paper produced by Fair Trade organisations and networks in the run up to COP26 which the Forum signed alongside the World Fair Trade Organisation, Fairtrade International, the Fairtrade Foundation and several others. The key message of the Fair Trade movement at COP26 was clear – there can be no climate justice without trade justice. This message was at the heart of our short film produced for COP26 which we worked on with representatives from the World Fair Trade Organisation, Fairtrade Foundation and the Sholi Coffee Co-operative in Rwanda.
One of the biggest disappointments of COP26 was the failure to move quickly enough on climate finance.
Fairtrade International’s Head of Delegation for COP26, Kenyan flower farmer, Mary Kinyua, commented after COP26 that “It is hard to understand why the climate finance promise of $100 billion per year is still outstanding. It is painful to see that no commitment at all has been made to pay for the unavoidable loss and damage faced by our communities”.
There was some progress at COP26 to be welcomed including promises on deforestation and the announcement of a ‘Just Rural Transition Fund’.
We need to keep alert to how funds are used – to make sure that farmers and workers at the frontline get the support that they need. It is these farmers and workers that already are responding to the climate emergency – they have the experience of dealing with climate change at the front and have developed the skills needed in the global response to the climate emergency.
As Bismark Kpabitey, a Ghanaian cocoa farmer attending COP26 said when speaking at our Scottish Fair Trade Awards ceremony,
“The time for promises has passed. Now is the time for actions”.
And what action can you take, especially during Fairtrade Fortnight?
The Scottish Fair Trade Forum supports Fairtrade Fortnight which will run from 21 February to 6 March this year and continues to build an understanding of the role Fairtrade plays in addressing the climate crisis.
Find out more and get involved with Fairtrade Fortnight.
Join the Scottish Fair Trade Forum’s events to show solidarity with farmers dealing with the climate crisis, and to promote Fairtrade in Scotland this Fairtrade Fortnight – Fairtrade, Our Carbon Footprint and the Bigger Picture and Climate Change, Women, Agriculture and Fairtrade.
Find out more about what the Scottish Fair Trade Forum is doing during Fairtrade Fortnight, and about Fair Trade and climate change by tuning in to The Faircast – podcast conversations about Fair Trade, people and planet. Read more about Fair Trade and climate change and ask your MSP to sign the Fair Trade Pledge.
Header image credit: Fairtrade Foundation
Author image credit: Scottish Fair Trade Forum