On the eve of the Paris Climate Summit, over 570,000 people around the world took to the streets over the weekend for the record-breaking Global Climate March to urge leaders to scale up action on climate change to achieve 100% renewable energy, eliminate poverty and protect people from worsening climate impacts.
This number of 570,000 is still provisional and could rise further with big marches in Mexico City, Ottawa and Vancouver still to come in later today. These events came despite the Paris event, where 400,000 were expected to march today, being cancelled.
People joined in more than 2300 events across 175 countries. Coming from all walks of life, people from affected communities, development organisations, climate movements, the young and old, people of faith, indigenous people, trade unionists and many more marched together.
In Paris, 22,000 pairs of shoes – including that of Pope Francis and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, were placed at Place de la Republique, on behalf of the 400,000 people who were expected to have marched if possible. Afterwards, 10,000 people held hands in solidarity with frontline communities affected by climate change.
The marchers demonstrated that tackling climate change affects so many of life’s essentials, from equality and poverty, food and energy, to water, jobs, safety and human rights. Support for scaling up climate action has never been higher, and world leaders cannot ignore these calls. Doing so would place them firmly on the wrong side of history.