11 November, 2026

Antalya, Türkiye

Indigenous Peoples, Climate justice groups, climate activists and campaigners from around the world came together at COP31 yesterday for a collective action exposing how false climate solutions create the illusion of climate action while allowing the extractive economic model driving the climate crisis to continue. 

Under the banner “No False Solutions, But Real Solutions”, the action challenged the growing promotion of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS/CCUS), marine geoengineering and Nature-based Solutions as climate responses, highlighting how these approaches risk legitimising continued fossil fuel expansion, commodifying nature, threatening ecosystems and undermining the rights of Indigenous Peoples and frontline communities. The campaigners called on governments to reject these false solutions and prioritise people-led, rights-based climate action rooted in systemic change, ecosystem restoration and a just transition away from fossil fuels.

Aakaluk Adrienne Blatchford, Indigenous Environmental Network said:

 “The oceans are the one thing that connect our lands. They help Sila, the weather and Universe have balance. The world is already experiencing that imbalance caused by industrialism and extractivism led by white supremacy, imperialism and the commodification of Mother Earth. As Indigenous people in the north, our cultural survival and food security are impartial to a healthy Arctic ecosystem that the world depends on to thrive. Rather than phase out fossil fuel and critical mineral extraction, we are seeing countries invest in false climate solutions like climate mitigation with marine geoengineering. They are also highly unregulated disasters waiting to happen. There is no replacement for clean water, air and lands and there is no wealth that can buy it back.”

Dana  Tarigan, WALHI Indonesia said: 

“As Nature based Solutions gain prominence ahead of COP31, we must be clear: protecting forests, mangroves, peatlands, and coastal ecosystems is essential for climate adaptation, biodiversity, and community resilience. We are increasingly concerned that Nature based Solutions are being used to greenwash destructive development projects. True Nature Base solutions should strengthen ecosystem resilience, protect community rights, and address the root causes of climate vulnerability. They must not justify projects that increase social inequality, or create new forms of carbon commodification and land grabbing. Nature can help us confront the climate crisis, but it cannot compensate for continued fossil fuel dependence. Climate solutions must serve people and ecosystems first, not carbon markets or megaproject interests.”

Ayumi Fukakusa, Friends of the Earth Japan said:

“CCS is not a climate solution. It is a lifeline for the fossil fuel industry. Carbon Capture and Storage is expensive, energy-intensive, and full of uncertainties. CCS allows the fossil fuel industry to keep extracting, burning, and profiting from coal, oil, and gas, while pretending to be part of the climate solution. It is greenwashing on an industrial scale. Powerful countries and corporations are turning other people's territories into dumping grounds for their pollution.Communities in the Global South are once again being asked to bear the costs of a crisis they did not create, so that wealthy polluters can maintain their profits and their business as usual. We need real emission reductions at the source, a transition to renewable energy, and climate solutions led by communities, not fossil fuel corporations.”

Jax Bongon, IBON International said:

“For generations, all the world’s wealth and power have been concentrated in the hands of a privileged few, while millions are denied access to the land, food, water and resources they need to live with dignity. Meanwhile, decisions affecting entire communities and ecosystems continue to be made according to the interests of big corporations and the ruling few. Real Solutions signal a disruption to this. The foundation of people-powered climate action include communities reclaiming the power and resources to shape the conditions upon which their lives and livelihoods depend. This also means reorienting our understanding of our relationship with nature, in ways that recognise our interdependence with it. These solutions we want and speak of are already taking shape wherever people are building alternatives to destructive systems.”

Rachitaa Gupta, Global Coordinator, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice said: 

"False climate solutions like carbon capture and storage or marine geoengineering are a scam worth billions of dollars. It is a scam backed by some of the world's biggest corporations, promoted by rich countries, and increasingly finding their way into COPs and climate policy. Instead of cutting emissions, ending fossil fuel expansion, and paying their climate debt, rich countries want to promote false solutions. Behind every one of these false solutions is more extraction, more land and ocean grabbing, more exploitation and threats to communities, and more excuses to delay climate action. And while corporations rake in billions in profits, communities are left holding the climate bill. We cannot rely on illusions - we need real people-led solutions that protect Indigenous Peoples rights, protect our lands, our forests, our rivers and our oceans.”

Action Photos and Videos 

1. Photo bank (Please Credit: Bianka Csenki, Artivist Network)
2. DCJ/HOME Alliance Video and Photo Bank

Additional Information

1. What are false climate solutions
2. Submission to OHCHR on CCS risks
3. CSO demands both the Japanese and Malaysian government not to promote CCS - Exporting CO2 from Japan to Malaysia is Carbon Colonialism
4. IBON International’s Opening Statement for COP31
5. Home Alliance COP31 Statement On Marine Geoengineering Experiments

For media enquiries please contact

Juliah Kibochi

Communications Coordinator, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ)

juliah.dcj@gmail.com

Neha Gupta 

Communications Coordinator, Hands Off Mother Earth (HOME) Alliance

comms@handsoffmotherearth.org