European youth stands in solidarity

Power Shift Sweden stands in solidarity with communities affected by climate change fuelled by dirty energy projects, calls to stop dirty energy and shift to renewable.

Malmö – This Sunday, 11th of October, several hundred young activists from across Europe will take part in an action as part of Power Shift Sweden 2015.ThePowerShiftevent brings youth from over 20 countries for an inspiring weekend of learning, workshops, actions and ideas sharing around climate justice. The action will happen between 11-12pm on Sunday in central Malmö and will be connected to the Run for Your Life project. The Run itself will be for climate justice as a main topic of this year’s Power Shift and will be aligned with the demands of the worldwide #ReclaimPower actions that are taking place from October 9 to 10 to oppose dirty energy and call for a just transition to renewable energy.

"As concerned youth from across Europe we acknowledge our privilege to be able to come together, talk about and mobilize around climate justice. We are here to share tools to effectively address inequalities and discrimination generated by the impacts of climate change."

Impacts of climate change are already devastating the planet and affecting the lives of millions of people worldwide. To address the problems climate change is causing will require addressing the root problems that have contributed to and are accelerating it, including dirty energy and inequality. Current energy systems are the fastest growing contributor to climate change by emitting gross amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, yet leave 1.3 billion people without electricity and many more with barely enough.

Even thoughSweden is working towards being one of the first fossil fuel free countries in the world, across the globe we see energy systems for elites, dependent on dirty and harmful sources like coal, gas, oil, nuclear, waste-incineration and mega-hydro. With the action this Sunday, European youth will stand in solidarity with the ones that suffer the impacts of climate change fuelled by dirty energy projects and call for global energy transformation putting people and planet before profit. This year’s #ReclaimPower was held a week after the deadline for countries to submit their climate plans to the UN climate body, as a global climate deal is set to be agreed in Paris in December this year. However, a recent study by Climate Interact shows that the pledges submitted so far are not enough to stave off dangerous global warming.

European Union’s climate commitments are an insufficient contribution to global efforts in limiting global warming to less than 2°C and avoid runaway climate change. European countries, acting as unity at the upcoming climate negotiations, should increase their climate pledges and urge the creation of a global mechanism to review and increase domestic emission reductions.

"The action this Sunday will be in solidarity with those most affected by climate change. The time is running out and we want our leaders to act for climate justice. It is time to start running for our lives."

Read more about Power Shift at www.powershift.se

Press contact
Johanna Lakso, 0708-98 32 08
johanna@pushsverige.se