The First place Fossil of the Day goes to Saudi Arabia. The oil-rich Arab countries are in for a big test this year. They are all over the process. Not only is Qatar the Presidency of COP18, but also Saudi Arabia is chairing the LCA, and Algeria is heading G77+China. It is great to see the Arab region taking on big roles in the process, but as Spiderman says ‘with power, comes responsibility’. It is an important year for the Arab World, and failure in achieving a successful political outcome in COP18 would be a disgrace to the region. Therefore, one would expect that all Arab countries would be supportive of Qatar, not take extreme positions, not alienate Parties, and definitely not play obstructive roles in the process. Unfortunately, we still see Saudi Arabia trying its best to push its own short-term agenda forward, and getting a whole bunch of countries angry consequently blocking progress in different areas. What is upsetting is that this will not only reflect badly on their LCA chairmanship, but it will also send negative signals on the nature of the influence Saudi Arabia will have on their Qatari neighbors. CAN cautions Saudi Arabia, and advises it to take a progressive role. Countries are already calling COP18 the Saudi COP. So, Saudi Arabia, CAN’s message to you: “Stop undermining Qatar!”

The Second Place Fossil goes to Poland to Poland, for blocking the European Union to increase its pledge to 30% reductions by 2020, much less the 30% solely through domestic action or 40% overall that NGOs and some vulnerable countries would dearly love to see. The Polish government is taking 26 other countries hostage to increase their level of ambition, and thus driving the European emissions trading to collapse. The Polish position is also undermining the EU’s overall credibility in their call for real progress under the ADP workplan to increase near-term ambition until 2020.  Poland, notably, has also been instrumental in blocking the European Union to adopt a position on the issue of AAU carry-over.  Without Poland, the EU would have been able to move forward on AAUs ages ago.

Durban, South Africa – Poland has not won a Fossil of the Day by itself since 2008, when it hosted the
United Nations climate change negotiations in its city of Poznań. All that changed today, when it took First
Place for putting coal ahead of climate. Canada, which has won plenty of Fossils since 2008 (and plenty
since the start of this week), won another, coming in Second Place with another insult by its Environment
Minister to developing countries.

The Fossils as presented read:

"Canada wins the 2nd place Fossil for failing to understand the fundamental principal of common but
differentiated responsibility.

A memo for Canada:

Once upon a time, countries agreed by consensus on a little thing known as ‘Common But Differentiated
Responsibilities' – this became a central pillar in global climate negotiations, recognizing that those who did
the most to cause this problem should act first and fastest to clean up the mess they made.
It seems that Canada’s Environment Minister missed the briefing on this fundamental principle of global
climate talks. The minister has made a series of blunders over recent days, garnering Canada 3 Fossil of the
Day awards so far. This most recent blunder is particularly insulting to the majority of the world who, in
addition to living in poverty, are also dealing with the worst impacts of climate change right now.
Minister Kent rejects the idea of ‘guilt payment’ to poorer countries for emissions. He said, 'there is a fairly
widely held perception in the developing world of the need for guilt payment to be built into any
international deal on climate’ (It’s a view Ottawa does not share).

We suspect this will not be a popular opinion here at an African COP – perhaps Minister Kent should
prepare himself for the political storms that will await him here in Durban."

"Poland wins the 1st place Fossil. Is it a Polish Presidency or a Coal-ish Presidency of the EU at this COP!?
CAN is amazed by recent actions of the Polish EU Presidency which endangers the credibility of the EU at
these negotiations. While EU diplomats are trying to find solutions for the climate crisis in Durban, the
Polish Presidency has decided to support 'the European Coal Days' by using its Presidency logo. Promoting
the dirtiest of fossil fuels at the very same time as the crucial talks in Durban are getting underway seems to
be a joke both for EU diplomacy as well as the global effort to stay below 2 degrees
The Polish Presidency seems to be talking out of both sides of its collective mouth. On one hand, it decides
to support a private interest lobby for the most polluting of all fossil fuels, while on the other, it is talking
big about finding a global solution to climate change.
As one Member of European Parliament in Durban said, 'It’s not helping the EU’s efforts in Durban. The
presidency should be playing an important role but instead, this is absolutely weakening the EU’s position in
Durban, and the Polish presidency is to blame.'
Roughly half of global emissions come from coal! Poland - or is it Coal-land - seems keen to see this
reliance on coal to continue to grow rather than make the urgently needed move to renewable, non-polluting
energy sources.
We urge the Polish Presidency to abandon coal and, in support of the rest of the EU working hard in Durban,
embrace a clean, green 100% renewable energy future."

Follow-up to the Polish Fossil Award (December 2, 2011):

We have a special update on a Fossil Award from earlier this week!  It seems we’ve gotten some attention!

As you may recall, CAN Awarded a Fossil of the Day to Poland on Wednesday for their apparent association with the “European Coal Days”.  

Well, the Polish government has responded!!!!

December 1, CAN received a letter from them explaining the situation further (image below).

In the letter, they explain that their logo was used without their government’s permission, and that they have asked the conference organizers to make it clear that Poland is not associated with the event.

We must say that we are relieved that the Polish Presidency decided to distance itself from this coal lobby event. What’s more, we look forward to working with Poland to ensure that they become climate leaders by quitting their coal investment plan and embracing a greener energy future.

We also want to remind them -- and all parties -- that we hope we might have the opportunity to award a Ray of the Day sometime soon should they show true leadership at these talks.  

As always, we’ll be watching carefully!
 

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About CAN: The Climate Action Network is a worldwide network of roughly 500 Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced
climate change to ecologically sustainable levels. www.climatenetwork.org
About the fossils: 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.
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