Climate Action Simulation: Environmental Groups

To: Chief Negotiators for Environmental Groups

Subject: Preparation for the Climate Action Summit

Welcome to the Climate Action Summit. You and leaders from all relevant stakeholders
have been invited by the UN Secretary-General to work together to successfully address
climate change. In the invitation, the Secretary-General noted that: “The climate
emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win…The best science...tells us
that any temperature rise above 1.5°C will lead to major and irreversible damage to the
ecosystems that support us...But science also tells us it is not too late. We can do it...But it
will require fundamental transformations in all aspects of society—how we grow food, use
land, fuel our transport and power our economies...By acting together, we will leave no
one behind.”

The goal of the summit is to create a plan to limit global warming to less than 2°C [3.6°F]
above pre-industrial levels and to strive for 1.5°C [2.7°F], the international targets formally
recognized in the Paris Climate Agreement. The scientific evidence is clear: warming
above this limit will yield catastrophic and irreversible impacts threatening the health,
prosperity, and lives of people in all nations.

Your group includes large established environmental organizations (e.g. Greenpeace,

Environmental Defense Fund, The Nature Conservancy, WWF, Rainforest Alliance, etc)
and newer youth-led movements (e.g. Fridays for Future), which have engaged millions of
people worldwide.

Your policy priorities are listed below. You can, however, propose, or block, any available
policy.

1. Limit warming to well below 2°C and as close to 1.5°C as possible. A 2°C world will
still deliver severe impacts for today’s young people and vulnerable populations, who
have contributed the least to climate change but will suffer more from extreme weather
disasters, increasing floods, droughts, heat waves and public health crises.

2. Get to 100% renewable energy as soon as possible through a high carbon price,
subsidies for renewables, and taxes on fossil fuels. Emissions from fossil fuels (coal, oil,
natural gas) are the biggest contributor to climate change. The world needs to cut fossil
fuel extraction immediately, and keep the carbon in the ground. Economists agree that
pricing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to reflect their environmental and social costs (well
over $50 per ton of CO2) is the best way to reduce global emissions. You may also
consider subsidizing renewables and/or taxing and regulating coal, oil, and gas.

3. Reduce deforestation. The world’s forests are in severe decline. Act to protect the
remaining forests and the people who live in or rely on them, including indigenous
populations. Protecting forests also protects freshwater supplies, natural resources, and
biodiversity.

4. Beware of efforts that threaten global food production. Large scale

implementation of policies such as afforestation, biofuels, and carbon removal methods
like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) will require large areas of land
that could threaten food production. Consider the land required for any given policy.

5. Lobby the other groups for strong action. As independent activists, you are not
beholden to vested interests. But, you don’t have much power compared to governments
and the fossil fuel industry. The fossil fuel industry will try to marginalize you and the
people you represent as naive and ill-informed. They will try to cast doubt on climate
science by emphasizing uncertainty, following the same playbook the tobacco industry
used successfully for many years to confuse the public and delay action. Use whatever
nonviolent tactics you feel are appropriate to get the attention of those in power.
Consider peaceful demonstrations and passionate speeches. Take the moral high ground
and remind people what you are fighting for—a world in which every child and every
person can thrive.

Additional Considerations
The climate movement is growing. The scientific consensus is clear: climate change is
happening now, it is caused primarily by human activities, and if unchecked it will have
devastating effects on our prosperity, health and lives. Young people today have the most
to lose. They were born into a fossil fuel economy they didn’t build but that threatens to
leave them an impoverished and dangerous world, a world without the rich diversity of
plant and animal life past generations enjoyed. The sooner all businesses, consumers and
nations cut emissions, the more likely we all are to succeed, and the easier the transition
will be.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will bring public health and social benefits, including
improved air and water quality, greener cities, energy and food security, better health,
new jobs, and greater resilience. Limiting warming to 1.5 °C, rather than 2 °C, would save
more than 100 million people from water shortages, up to 2 billion people from
dangerous heat waves, and many plant and animal species from climate change
extinction risk. Actions to achieve these climate outcomes would likely generate
accumulated global benefits of more than $20 trillion while alleviating global economic
inequality. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes it clear that
such a transformation is “possible within the laws of physics and chemistry,” and
describes scenarios that can accomplish this goal with today’s technologies (https://
www.ipcc.ch/sr15/).

The effects of climate change will not be uniform. The great injustice is that the people
who have contributed the least to global warming will suffer the most and have the
fewest resources and infrastructure to adapt. The most vulnerable regions of the world
include Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and island nations
in the Pacific and around the world. Many developing countries rely heavily on climate-
sensitive sectors such as agriculture, forestry, and tourism. Even within developed nations,
their poor, farmers, and other vulnerable populations bear the brunt of climate impacts.
The world faces a challenge of unparalleled magnitude. Good luck. The future depends
on your success.

Developed by Climate Interactive, MIT Sloan School of Management Sustainability Initiative, ESB Business School,
and UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative. Last updated January 2023. www.climateinteractive.org