Fairtrade to petition world leaders at COP26 in Glasgow, with call to invest in farmers overseas battling to grow food amid climate crisis

Fairtrade is set to unveil a new climate campaign across Kenya, the UK and the US, with 1.8million farmers and workers calling on world leaders at COP26 to listen their expertise in low-income countries who grow our food, because they are living the reality of the climate crisis every day.

Fairtrade’s campaign, branded ‘Be Fair With Your Climate Promise’, kicks off today, 18^th September 2021, just ahead of the UN’s global Youth4Climate summit and at the start of Great Big Green Week. It will peak at COP26 in November, when world leaders meet in Glasgow for critical climate negotiations.

With the countdown to COP continuing, the campaign is highlighting just how much is at stake for farmers and workers who produce much of the food Brits love to consume. In Africa, temperatures are rising more rapidly than the global average, with extreme weather events and more frequent rainfall now expected across the continent, jeopardising the viability of crops.

While the world’s wealthiest 10 percent are responsible for 50 percent of global emissions, it’s those earning the least in lower income countries who are being forced into extreme hardship by climate change right now. That’s why Fairtrade is warning that now is the time for bolder and faster action on the climate crisis, and world leaders have a hugely important role to play.

The Be Fair With Your Climate Promise campaign aims to run for three years, with the first year urging leaders of richer nations to keep their promise to provide at least $100bn in climate finance each year for lower income nations on the frontline of the climate crisis. These funds need to reach farmers in order to guarantee to a just transition to a low-carbon economy, and a fair future for all, says the Fairtrade campaign.

A new Fairtrade paper published this week, Placing Fairness at the Heart of Climate Ambitions, cautions that there are big differences in what people can afford to do to protect themselves and adapt to climate change, depending on social, economic and political conditions in which they live.

Fairtrade Africa’s Commercial Director Kate Nkatha, said: “Farming communities who have cared for their local eco-systems for generations know exactly why the climate crisis really is a crisis. Yet millions are unable to earn enough to adapt to real threats climate change poses for lives and livelihoods. The fight against climate change is about human rights and ensuring justice for vulnerable communities impacted.”

Fairtrade’s Engagement Director Nilufar Verjee says: “I’d encourage everyone to join our campaign and participate in the many actions and activities that will be announced over the coming weeks to help spread this vital message that affects the future of our food.”

Fairtrade will mobilise thousands of supporters to write to their MPs and legislators to demand they back a fair climate promise. Fairtrade campaigners are also organizing a range of events designed to engage, inform and educate people around the urgent message of Fairtrade and climate. As part of these activities, some supporters in the UK will make a pilgrimage, walking the length of the country to Glasgow.

Four Youth Ambassadors from Fairtrade farming communities in Africa, Latin America and Asia, who have seen first-hand the severe impacts of climate change, will meet with MPs and legislators to appeal to them to take decisive action at COP26.

An international delegation of Fairtrade farmers and their representatives will meet with delegates at the Glasgow summit to press for immediate and decisive action on behalf of the 1.8 million Fairtrade producers around the world.

Fairtrade supporters will be given the opportunity to hear from these producers via panel discussions, workshops and collaborations between Fairtrade and retail partners, chefs and high-profile individuals in the world of climate, food and sustainability.

Visit www.fairtrade.org.uk to find out how you can join Fairtrade’s climate justice campaign.