Brockville Climate Action Group

GCCA / Press Release / 22 June 2009

Montreal, June 22, 2009 - Thanks to initial support of $300,000 from the Government of Quebec and start-up help from Montreal International, a new international organisation for the fight against climate change was created and is launching its Secretariat in Montreal.

The Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA) brings together twenty of the most important organisations from international civil society, including OXFAM, WWF, World Council of Churches, Union of Concerned Scientists, Équiterre, 350, Avaaz, Greenpeace, Global Humanitarian Forum, Global Call to Action against Poverty, and the Pew Environment Group. This new organisation will mobilize civil society and national public opinion in order to obtain an ambitious, fair and binding international agreement at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change which will be held December 7-18, 2009. The GCCA advocates much needed deep and immediate change in order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The GCCA will also be launching a series of public actions in the next few months which aim to mobilize a vast number of people all over the world.

“I wish to thank the Government of Quebec and its Minister for the Environment who, from the get-go, believed in this project and supported it as early as December of 2007, in Bali”, declared Steven Guilbeault, Treasurer and Founder of the GCCA and Co-founder of Équiterre. “The response from international civil society shows that the Government of Quebec and Montreal International were right to support us. Now, the vision of a world more respectful of the environment, fairer, and more prosperous will be spread from Montreal, thanks to the GCCA’s International Secretariat. This is no small matter. In Quebec, civil society and its government are putting words into action. The same goes for the civil society all across our nation. Moreover, the complex question of global warming requires concerted action from the international community. We intend to demonstrate that here and abroad, the population at large wants to take full responsibility for its future and to take action.”

The monies donated by the Government of Quebec in Bali have since grown substantially. The mobilization of international civil society is such that the GCCA now disposes of several millions of dollars for its campaign on the international scene.

“The Government of Quebec is proud to have been one of the first to partner with this initiative, which is in line with the measures the government is putting in place to increase the population’s awareness of the importance of acting in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The fact that the GCCA’s international secretariat is located in Montreal demonstrates, once again, the resolve of the government and Quebec’s civil society to be at the forefront in the fight against climate change, in Quebec and also on the world stage”, said Mrs. Line Beauchamp, Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks.

The GCCA has been making itself heard for some time on the world stage. For example, in Japan, it supported the national civil society during the consultations by the Japanese Government on the new Japanese targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas (or GHG). More recently, in Bonn, during the international meetings in preparation for Copenhagen, 500 people got together supported by the GCCA to create a giant exclamation mark on the lawn of a park, with the words “YES YOU CAN”, a way of asking for a more binding, fair and ambitious international agreement on climate change.

“The City of Montreal is proud to welcome the headquarters of the GCCA”, declared Alan deSousa, member of the Executive Committee of the City of Montreal and Responsible for Sustainable Development and the Environment. This new organisation’s decision to set up an office in our city reaffirms Montreal’s growing role as an environmental leader in on the world stage.

“Montréal International is thrilled that the Global Campaign for Climate Action has decided to set up its Secretariat in Montreal”, declared Mr. André Gamache, President and CEO of Montreal International. “The GCCA joins the ranks of the 70 or so international organisations already headquartered in Montreal and in doing so reinforces our region’s prominence and influence on the environmental scene, while contributing to Montreal’s presence internationally.”

The most recent scientific studies indicate that the actual pace of climate change exceeds all the worst-case scenarios prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). We have only a small window of opportunity left to avoid the worst and to create a greener, more prosperous and fair economy. From its Montreal office, this new organisation will reiterate and amplify these messages.

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