USCAN Telepresser - Investing in Our Future: International Climate Finance in
2010

TORONTO, April 15 /CNW/ - Starting Sunday April 18, 2010 and over the following five days Washington hosts two important international meetings. The first gathers senior diplomats from major world economies to advance climate negotiations. The second convenes finance ministers from the G-20, all of whom have a stake in advancing action to cool a warming planet and heat up a global economy in deep recession.

Senior leaders from environmental organizations in the U.S. and Canada are holding a tele-press conference, Friday, April 16, 10:30 AM EST, to inform reporters about the significance of these meetings, how they are related, and action steps nations need to take to improve their outcomes.

    
    WHO:
     -  Alden Meyer, Director of Strategy and Policy, Union of Concerned
        Scientists (US)
     -  Dr. Rick Smith, Executive Director, Environmental Defence Canada
        (Canada)
     -  Joe Mendelson, Global Warming Policy Director, National Wildlife
        Federation (US)
     -  Matthew Bramley, Climate Change Director, Pembina Institute (Canada)

    WHEN:  Friday, April 16, 2010, 10:30 AM Eastern

    WHERE: Call 866-866-1333 (US) or 404-260-1421 (International)
           Please dial-in 10-15 minutes in advance.
           Ask for the USCAN Press Briefing
    

Both the Major Economies Forum called by the Obama administration and the G-20 finance ministers meeting mark the start of an intensifying schedule of global negotiating sessions on climate action and on the international economy. Last week, the year's first UN-sponsored climate negotiating session was held in Bonn. In June, heads of the world's largest economies meet at the G-20 in Toronto. In late November, Cancun, Mexico hosts the 16th UN climate conference.

The negotiating sessions next week in Washington play an important role in setting the agendas of the larger climate and economic conferences in the coming months. They are being held in Washington at the moment when the climate crisis and the economic crisis have collided.

Groups from both nations have sent a letter to the U.S. president and the Canadian prime minister that calls on heads of state to make climate action a priority at the Toronto G-20. The steps needed to cool the planet and make the transition to a low-carbon economy, environmental leaders assert, represent a clear formula for solving the global economic recession. American and Canadian environmental leaders propose steps to keep global average temperature rise from pre-industrial levels to well below 2 degrees Celsius; curbing expansion of high-carbon intensity industries such as Canadian tar sands oil development; innovative financing mechanisms to generate substantial new and additional public financial support for developing countries, as pledged in the Copenhagen Accord; and immediate action to fulfill the commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies made at the Pittsburgh G-20 meeting last year.

About U.S. Climate Action Network

U.S. Climate Action Network (USCAN) is the largest network of organizations focused on climate change in the U.S. USCAN's mission is to support and strengthen civil society organizations to influence the design and development of an effective, equitable and sustainable global strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure its implementation at international, national and local levels. Learn more at usclimatenetwork.org

For further information: US Contacts: Keith Schneider, [phone], [email protected]; Rhys Gerholdt, [phone], [email protected]; Canadian Contact: Jennifer Foulds, Environmental Defence Canada, [phone] x 232, cell: [phone]