Australia received two Fossil awards on Thusday night, 12 December, the second last scheduled day of the UN climate conference in Madrid.
The first award was a stand alone for pushing use of Kyoto Protocol credits as carryover to the Paris Agreement which helped undermine negotiations. The second was as part of the Developed nations for lack of ambition in resolving Loss and Damage for vulnerable countries at COP25. This was supposed to be the Loss and Damage COP with the Warsaw Implementation Mechanism on Loss and Damage Review.
That puts Australia with 6 Fossil Awards for COP25 from Nine Fossil Award Ceremonies. Not a good record to have and illustrates the extent of climate policy in-action both at home and internationally.
Fossil of the Day Award Citation
Fossil of the day 12 December COP25 Award Summary and citation
1st 🇺🇸 US (again!) for blocking money for victims of severe climate impacts for 6 years now!
2nd - Developed Countries especially 🇪🇺🇨🇦🇦🇺 for lack of ambition in #lossanddamage for vulnerable countries
🇦🇺 Australia for using carbon market loopholes
#RayoftheDay 🌅
For the people rolling up their sleeves to take on the fossil fuel industry
🇵🇠Philippines - climate activists petitioning #CarbonMajors for human rights
🇳🇴Norway-fighting extraction in the Arctic
Indigenous heroes from the 🇧🇷Amazon to 🇦🇺Australia
Award Citation
Today we have in first place for the fossil of the day award the United States of America (USA) (again and again)!
The main reason is for generally really standing in the way of any money going to the people suffering from climate change. This has been going on for at least six years. This should really raise eyebrows about the country´s lack of empathy. Are there real people in office in the US People with actual hearts? Or have they replaced their humanity with a lump of coal?
First inhumanity, and now they put on full display their paranoia! They are afraid of being held accountable for causing droughts in Africa. They are afraid of being held accountable for the drowning of the Pacific; the destruction of entire civilisations. Actually, they should be held accountable but this is not what the Paris Agreement is about. It is about international cooperation, no developing country talked about liability. Yet the US insists on language on liability and compensation in the draft COP Decision text on the Review of the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss & Damage (WIM).
Hey US you are on your way out, you are not giving a single dollar to the Green Climate Fund and now you don’t want any help to get to the people bearing the brunt of the mess you created! And still, you want to be part of the WIM’s Executive Committee! Pay up or step out, let others move forward already.
The Second Fossil of the Day award goes to developed countries with special mention to the European Union, Canada and Australia for showing lack of ambition in responding to vulnerable peoples’needs on loss and damage.
The WIM Review unofficially began on December 1st, and the overwhelming message was that finance to address loss and damage must be an outcome of COP25.
Two weeks later, poor and vulnerable countries and civil society are wondering if developed countries attended a different meeting on December 1st.
While we acknowledge they have been less problematic than the US, developed countries, including Australia, Canada and the European Union have done very little very late to advance discussions on loss and damage finance age. It’s especially confusing when all three have agreed that existing climate finance is insufficient. Anyhow, aren’t they the rich people in the room? And part of the club that caused the problem in the first place? Why is it so difficult for them to pay for the damages they are still causing. Also…hey Canada… isn’t high time you differentiate yourself from cronies like Australia and the US?
It is beyond us to understand how developed countries can sit by and continue to twiddle their thumbs whilst vulnerable communities in developing countries experience severe losses and damages. You have one day left to show you want to be on the right side of history!
The third fossil award goes to Australia - for using carbon market loopholes to meet its climate targets
We award this fossil to Australia for planning to cheat the atmosphere by carrying over its credits from the Kyoto protocol. Instead of cutting greenhouse gas pollution, Australia is using creative accounting. Please bear with us now: Australia plans to count surplus carbon credits from exceeding previous targets against future targets. Regrettably, this was allowed under the old Kyoto protocol, but it is not even mentioned in the Paris agreement. No country in though about such trickery.
To make things worse, since the Paris Agreement is a new and separate treaty, this is not even legal stuff!
Hey Australia: Article 6 deserves some more love here instead of your distractions. When you rig your climate target you shouldn't showcase this as "overachievement". You must do more in the future, not less. Please stop cooking up the books, stop shifting carbon pollution around. Grow up, be a responsible adult and get over Kyoto, it´s long gone now!
Ray of the Day Award
We would like to especially mention:
- The activists from the Philippines who petitioned the Philippines Commission for Human Rights to denounce the responsibility of the Carbon Majors for climate-induced human rights violations
- The amazing Norwegians campaigning to denounce fossil fuel extraction in the Arctic and who will be facing the government in court tomorrow - hoping that the judge will realize how incompatible large scale fossil fuel extraction is with the right to a healthy environment for present and future generations
- The indigenous heroes, from the Amazon to Australia risking their already vulnerable lives to fight fossil fuel development on traditional land and to preserve cultural and environmental integrity
These heroes are leading the charge in bringing down the real elephant occupying the UNFCCC hallways and backing the deniers and the blockers. Hur-Ray to the people! They are the hope and they will prevail!
About the fossils:
Every day at 18:00 local time you can watch the Fossil ceremony in Hall 4 during COP25.
The Fossil of the Day awards were first presented at the climate talks in 1999, in Bonn, initiated by the German NGO Forum. During United Nations climate change negotiations (www.unfccc.int), members of the Climate Action Network (CAN), vote for countries judged to have done their 'best' to block progress in the negotiations in the last days of talks.
About CAN: The Climate Action Network (CAN) is a global network of over 1,300 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in more than 120 countries working to promote government and individual action to limit human induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels.
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