Last year CorpWatch launched an initiative to redefine the global warming issue as a question of local and global justice. In November 2000, CorpWatch organized the First Climate Justice Summit in The Hague bringing representatives from communities already adversely impacted by the fossil-fuel industry from the US and Southern countries together to join the climate change debate. The 1990s were the warmest decade and 1998 was the warmest year on record. The increase in temperature in the 20th century is likely to have been the largest of any century during the past 1,000 years. There has been a widespread retreat of mountain glaciers during the 20th century.
Climate change is seen as a political issue among nations.
The US, responsible for about a quarter of all global warming gasses, is calling for greater CO2 reduction by developing nations. But many corporations emit more CO2 than most countries. Oil produced by Shell emits more carbon dioxide than most countries in the world including Canada, Brazil and Mexico. Royal Dutch Shell sent 43 official representatives and lobbyists to the November 2000 climate negotiations in The Hague, a delegation larger than most countries and nearly half the size of the 100 plus person US delegation. Economic globalization advances global warming and the fossil fuel industry's bottom line.