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CARE Canada Joins Global Climate Action Week

“Climate change affects everything CARE Canada does and stands for.”

OTTAWA, September 20, 2019 – CARE Canada today launched a week of action, in solidarity with the Global Climate Action Week from 20-27 September, as people in over 150 countries demand increased climate action from decision-makers.

“Climate change affects everything CARE Canada does and stands for. In the countries where CARE works, climate change is causing hunger to rise, fueling forced migration and conflict over natural resources, and threatening to push millions of people into extreme poverty,” said CARE Canada President and CEO (Interim) Mara O’Brien James.

“CARE Canada is proud to be standing with youth around the world who are calling on us to protect their futures, and with women and girls on the front lines of the crisis in the most vulnerable places on earth. In an effort to reduce our own environmental impact, CARE Canada’s senior leadership team will in the coming weeks adopt new policies aimed at reducing our emissions from travel and operations by up to 10 per cent per year.”

CARE staff around the world will be given time to join climate action marches nearest to them during Climate Action Week. In Canada, CARE staff and supporters will be marching in Montreal and Ottawa, using a #CARE4Climate Action Toolkit which calls on political leaders to step up with bold new policies to address the scale and urgency of the climate crisis and also take steps to reduce their own environmental impact.

The Climate Action Summit convened by United Nations Secretary General in New York City on September 23 will be attended by CARE representatives who will advocate for climate justice and on behalf of the most vulnerable people, especially women and girls, who have done the least to cause this climate crisis but suffer most from its effects.

“The urgency of the climate crisis is undeniable, and its impacts can be traced in the biggest challenges confronting policymakers everywhere,” said CARE Canada Policy and Influence Lead Shaughn McArthur.

“But there is also a good news story here. We have many solutions to the climate crisis, and if implemented, these can result in trillions in economic and development gains. Climate Action Week is an important moment for CARE to join others calling on politicians to seize these advantages for the benefit of current and future generations.”

Climate change disproportionately affects those who are the least responsible for causing it. According to the United Nations, the world’s poorest 1 billion people (those living on less than $1 per day) are responsible for just 3% of global carbon footprint. Yet developing countries are already bearing up to 80% of the cost of climate change, including through food insecurity, loss and damage, compromised livelihoods and instability. The burden of these impacts falls disproportionately on women and girls.

CARE Canada is calling on the Government of Canada to double Canada’s international climate finance commitment in line with our relative wealth and global responsibilities, to commit at least 50% of international climate finance for principal purpose adaptation initiatives aimed at addressing the needs of vulnerable people and countries, and to commit 20% of Canada’s adaptation finance towards gender equality as a “principal” objective and 80% as a “significant objective”.

About CARE Canada

Founded in 1945 with the creation of the CARE Package®, CARE develops solutions alongside women and girls in developing countries to lift themselves, their families, and their communities out of poverty and out of crisis. CARE stands with women and girls around the world in economic empowerment. We bring women, girls, and their communities together to challenge inequality while facing issues like food insecurity, climate change, and emergency relief in times of crisis or disaster. In 2018, CARE worked in 95 countries and reached more than 56 million people around the world.

To learn more about CARE Canada, visit www.care.ca.

CARE has spokespeople available. For media inquiries, please contact:

Lama Alsafi
media@care.ca | 613-228-5641
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