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Fossil Awards debut in Copenhagen
Dishonours for Low Ambition on Carbon Cuts
Published on Dec 7, 2009 - 12:06:34 PM
By: Climate Action Network
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Dec. 7, 2009 - On the opening day of UN climate talks in Copenhagen, NGOs from around the world voted to present their mock "Fossil of the Day Award"--given to the country or countries doing the most to obstruct progress in the global climate talks--to all of the industrialised countries, for their lack of ambition in targets to cut carbon and curb dangerous climate change.
In an unusual award to particular EU member states, Second-place Fossil dishonours went to Sweden, Finland, and Austria for backing a controversial EU proposal that would weaken the Europe's targets by not accounting for emissions caused by increased logging. Fossil stalwart Canada took the third trophy for announcing that it wouldn't budge on its weak proposed target.
The Fossil of the Day Awards are chosen by a daily vote of the Climate Action Network-International, a global coalition of over 450 non-governmental organisations, and presented daily at 6pm at an award ceremony hosted by Ben Wikler of Avaaz.org. More information, and past winners, can be found at www.fossiloftheday.com.
In a satirical game-show style ceremony, Ben Wikler of Avaaz.org said:
THIRD PLACE: CANADA
Canada earns its first Fossil of the COP for environment minister Jim Prentice's proclaiming that his nation "won't be swayed" by Copenhagen "hype"… And yet, if there's a country on the face of this planet that so desperately needs to be swayed, it is Canada. Since announcing its plan in 2006 for reducing emissions by 3% below 1990 levels, the Harper government has consistently refused to adopt any actual regulatory framework to start reducing emissions--from, for example, the rapidly growing tar sands sector. Prentice said the target wouldn't change. So not only does Canada have perhaps the worst record of all industrialised countries, they're now vowing to stick to it. The world is gathering in Copenhagen to negotiate; Canada says its plan is to not negotiate. Adding insult to injury, South Africa now has a more ambitious target than Alberta, one of the richest places on earth... and home of some of the world's highest per capita emissions.
SECOND PLACE: SWEDEN, FINLAND, AUSTRIA
Sweden, Finland, and Austria roar into the Fossil leaderboard for backing a devious EU proposal to cook the books by not fully accounting for emissions from forest management. Trees inhale carbon; cutting trees exhales it back. The proposal would count the effects of logging relative to "projected reference levels"--rather than looking at actual changes in emissions relative to 1990. Sweden, Finland, and Austria, the biggest beneficiaries of this approach, are saying they should be allowed to increase their logging and not account for the increased emissions. If the proposal goes through, they'll get carbon-cutting credit if they scale back their projected frenzy even a teensy bit. This proposal would punch a loophole in the EU's targets big enough to drive a logging truck through.
FIRST PLACE: INDUSTRIALISED COUNTRIES
Industrialised countries ("Annex I" countries, in climate-ese) win first for coming to Copenhagen with a profound deficit of ambition for cutting carbon. There's a huge and important debate over funding to help developing countries. More is needed. But all the money in the world won't solve climate change if the richest countries don't stop pumping greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. This is the defining issue--and until the fossil fuels go down, the Fossil Awards will keep racking up.
The Climate Action Network (CAN), a coalition of over 450 NGOs worldwide dedicated to limiting climate change to sustainable levels, regularly judges and presents three 'Fossil of The Day' awards to the countries who perform the worst during the past day's negotiations at UN climate change conferences. The Fossil-of-the-Day awards were first presented at the climate talks in 1999, also in Bonn, initiated by the German NGO Forum.
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