decade zero

Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) asserts that humanity has entered 'Decade Zero,' a critical window for drastic action to prevent irreversible warming. The report advocates for a 'Fairshare' approach to the global carbon budget, where rich industrialised nations take the deepest cuts and pay their 'climate debt' to the global South. FOEI rejects 'false solutions'—including carbon markets, REDD, and 'net zero' technologies—arguing they protect corporate profits and lead to human rights violations. Instead, it proposes a transition to energy sovereignty, agroecology, and community forest management, underpinned by a shift away from neoliberalism toward an economic system accountable to people.

• The world is in 'Decade Zero,' the final few years to take drastic action to avoid dangerous climate change, with current Paris Agreement pledges potentially leading to warming of at least 3.4°C.
• The remaining global carbon budget for a 66% chance of staying below 1.5°C is approximately 205Gt of CO2 as of 2016, and should be divided based on 'Fairshares' considering historical responsibility, capacity, and the right to sustainable societies.
• Carbon markets, REDD, and 'Climate Smart Agriculture' are identified as 'false solutions' that distract from real emissions reductions and often result in land grabbing and human rights violations, particularly affecting Indigenous Peoples and women.
• The concept of 'net zero' and 'negative emissions' is viewed as an existential threat to ending dirty energy because it legitimizes continued fossil fuel expansion and may require land use changes up to four times the current global food production area.
• A just energy transition requires 'energy sovereignty,' ensuring universal access to clean, democratically controlled, and community-owned energy while ending the overconsumption of energy in developed countries.
• Agroecology and Community Forest Management (CFM) are presented as feasible alternatives to industrial systems; agroecological projects in 57 developing countries showed an average crop yield increase of 79%.
• The report calls for a new international economic order to replace neoliberalism, including a binding treaty to hold Transnational Corporations (TNCs) accountable for environmental and human rights violations.
• Climate finance for the global South should be mandatory, sourced from public funds in developed countries as repayment of 'climate debt,' and must not be channeled through offsetting mechanisms or the World Bank.

APA

Shaw, S., Bassey, M., Bhatnagar, D., Cadena, L., Chandrasekaran, K., Cingotti, N., Cossar-Gilbert, S., Rehman, A., & Rojas, I. (2016). decade zero. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/08-FoEI-decade-zero-ENG-lr.pdf

Chicago

Shaw, Sara, Marian Bassey, Dipti Bhatnagar, Lucy Cadena, Kirtana Chandrasekaran, Natacha Cingotti, Sam Cossar-Gilbert, Asad Rehman, and Isaac Rojas. decade zero. Friends of the Earth International, 2016. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/08-FoEI-decade-zero-ENG-lr.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{shaw2016decade, author = {Shaw, Sara and Bassey, Marian and Bhatnagar, Dipti and Cadena, Lucy and Chandrasekaran, Kirtana and Cingotti, Natacha and Cossar-Gilbert, Sam and Rehman, Asad and Rojas, Isaac}, title = {{decade zero}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2016}, month = oct, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/08-FoEI-decade-zero-ENG-lr.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }