and on the second day of the UN climate conference Australia scored it's second Fossil Award. Slovenia and Bosnia took first for proceeding to develop a coal plant, Belgium was third, who is behind in every climate target and the climate Minister has invented a new greenwash term: "plane pooling".
It was Australia's second Fossil Award of the COP. The first award (yesterday) is what is known as an implementation Fossil award - it is about action or lack of action in the country involved.
Today's award for Australia was a negotiation fossil. It derived from an outlandish statement made by an Australian negotiator during the negotiations. The difference is important. Historically Fossil Awards were mainly focussed on negotiations. We are at the UN Climate negotiations after all.
This particular Fossil Award today has some complexity involving Finance, Loss and Damages and our first nation people. The negotiator was trying to justify a breakdown of Developed nation/developer nation responsibility for finance and loss and damage using the climate vulnerability of our own indigenous people, thus reducing our responsibility to developing nations like Timor Leste, Vanuatu, Tuvalu or Bangladesh.
This is in effect using the continued maltreatment of Australia's first nation people, who never ceeded sovereignty, as a justification for not stepping up as a developed country and major historical polluter for responsibility for finance for loss and damage that affects indigenous people in developed or developing nations, and especially people in developing nations who don't have the wealth and resources of countries such as Australia.
This statement was read out as part of the award ceremony by Gunnai-Gunditjmara Djab Wurrung woman Lidia Thorpe who is at COP25 as a CANA observer.
Facebook Livestream of Day 3 (Wednesday) Fossil of the Day Awards:
The Statement:
Let’s start with some truth - First Nations Peoples are the original Sovereign First Peoples.
We are at the front line of many injustices including climate change. We are at the front line of climate impacts despite being the least responsible.
This is true whether our sovereign lands are in developed or developing countries.
Australia is breaching our human and Indigenous rights. First Peoples don’t separate our livelihoods from our environment, our culture or our climate.
Successive Australian governments have failed to address the climate impacts faced by Aboriginal Communities. The Australian government’s current lack of climate action is also a human rights failure affecting First Nations Peoples amongst our pacific neighbours and around the world.
It’s this context that makes it even more disgraceful that Australia would claim concern for its First Nations Peoples at home in order to wash its hands of its responsibilities as a wealthy nation and major climate polluter, to do its fair share to assist Indigenous Peoples in Less Developed Countries (LDCs) in the face of catastrophic climate impacts.
Which is exactly what Australia did today in the COP negotiations in Madrid when it used the vulnerability of First Peoples to claim we need to; ‘break down the developed / developing country divide’, and gives Australia the same finanacial responsibility for climate action as for example, Timor Leste, Vanuatu, Tuvalu or Bangladesh.
official citation for todays awards:
1st 🇧🇦🇸🇮 SLOVENIA wants to fund BOSNIA’s coal addiction
through NLB Banka & EBRD
2nd 🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA (again!) For using the vulnerability of First Peoples to bring down developing/developed divide
3rd 🇧🇪 BELGIUM who's behind every climate target!
At this rate, fossil awards will run out! Several countries will be awarded the Fossil of the day today, again!
==Bosnia and Slovenia==
Bosnia and Slovenia rank first!
Slovenia wants to fund Bosnia’s coal addiction through Slovenian NLB Banka partly owned by the government and partly by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. That is unheard of! When your brother suffers from drug addiction, you don’t go giving him money to buy more drugs.
While world leaders gather here in Madrid to address climate change by cutting emissions primarily though coal and other fossil fuels phase out and as Europe prepares to pledge to be the first climate neutral continent, it is shameful that European banks work in the other direction!
==Australia==
The second fossil award goes to Australia! Again!
To evade its responsibility as a wealthy nation and major climate polluter, to do its fair share to assist Indigenous Peoples in Less Developed Countries (LDCs) in the face of catastrophic climate impacts, Australia used the vulnerability of First Peoples to claim we need to; ‘break down the developed / developing country divide’, and gives Australia the same financial responsibility for climate action as for example, Timor Leste, Vanuatu, Tuvalu or Bangladesh. THIS IS DISGRACEFUL!
The truth is - First Nations Peoples are the original Sovereign First Peoples. In their words: We are at the front line of many injustices including climate change. We are at the front line of climate impacts despite being the least responsible. This is true whether our sovereign lands are in developed or developing countries. Australia is breaching our human and Indigenous rights. First Peoples don’t separate our livelihoods from our environment, our culture or our climate.
==Belgium==
The third fossil award goes to Belgium!
While Europe is taking a leading role on climate, Belgium as the 'capital of Europe' is lacking behind on every target. At the rate Belgium's taking action right now, they won't reach the 2030 goals in 2050.
- In the beginning of this year the climate minister claimed that trees where 'only made for cutting down.'
- that same minister claimed the school strike youth was conspiring against her and that police had confirmed this after this claim she luckily had to resign within 24 hours. (The minister's name is Joke Schauwvliege)
- Belgium does not have a climate law.
- Belgium sends four ministers to COP25 and 2 by plane, but still they refuse to sign the COP agreements and fly back home empty handed.
- Belgium is the most polluted in terms of nitrogen dioxide.
- Belgium refused to join a European group to increase their ambition
== 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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