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Paris, 14th of September 2015- Global trade union summit brings together 250 trade union leaders and climate specialists to agree on a set of demands for the UN's COP21 climate summit coming up in Paris.

When responding to Merlyn Van Voore, the United Nations Environment Programme Climate Coordinator, the UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings said:

"We are facing a terrifying challenge, a global accident and we cannot say that we didn't know. The facts and science are there. Central banks have their radar screen focused on the 2% interest rate – they are diving in with policy tools to tame inflation when what we need is an active response to limit global warming to 2°C because the market won’t fix that. Climate change is a threat to democracy and peace. The grave concern is that the political response will be more authoritarianism and a slow crushing of civil liberties.  We are looking at a global humanitarian crisis which could cause more than 250 million climate refugees. The root cause of the climate crisis is the same that triggered the financial crisis: the short-termism of humankind. Only 90 companies are responsible for 2/3s of global emissions. Governments spend as much money on fossil fuel subsidies as on health care. This is a call for action. Climate change is our business: it is a union business. In the lead up to Paris we need to push for mitigation, adaptation, finance and reporting every five years. Last but not least we need to mobilize people. Climate change could become a real threat to democracy and we need to make sure that people have a say."

Join the conversation on twitter: #unions4climate

Media and communications: elise.buckle@uniglobalunion.org

UNI policy on climate (see paper attached): hanna.sjolund@uniglobalunion.org