Tag: ray of the day

First place Fossil is awarded to Japan. About 7 months ago, Japan experienced one of the most dreadful tragedies in the country's history. The country is still in the process of recovering from the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami. The nuclear accident in Fukushima certainly destroyed the myth that nuclear power is safe and clean. And yet, the country seems to have failed to learn an important lesson from the accident. In the KP spin-off group meeting yesterday, the country again rejected to drop the option to include nuclear in CDM. The position was also supported by India. This means the country still wants to export the technology that brought tremendous hardship upon its own nation to developing countries and then earn credits from this.
It is inappropriate, irresponsible and even morally wrong, given the fact that the Fukushima reactors are still in a very dangerous situation and the residents are still in heavily contaminated areas. In addition, the technology does not fit one of the dual objectives of CDM, which is to contribute to sustainable development. We sincerely hope the country come to sense, drop the proposal and work "against" it.

Saudi Arabia gets the 2nd place Fossil of the Day for insisting on the inclusion of response measures in the negotiation-text of the Adaptation Committee. Setting up negotiation chips is one thing, but using the same (wrong) old story again and again is another. Adaptation is not the place to negotiate response measures. Saudi Arabia we want change.

The Danish government announcement to reduce the Danish emissions 40% by year in 2020 earns Denmark the Ray of the Day. NGOs from around the world greeted this announcement with joy and excitement, “a new page has turned in Denmark’s climate politics. From now on when we say ‘Denmark’ we will smile. When before - we did not.” Also worth noting is that the brand new Danish government, as one of the first acts, sacked Bjorn Lomborg from his post as a government advisor. We hope that this also marks a new dawn for the EU’s delayed effort to move to a 30% target and will be followed up by other countries upping their pledges to the higher end of their range as Durban approaches.
 

Photo Credit: Adopt a Negotiator

On the last day of the United Nations climate negotiations,
countries continued to slow progress toward a fair, ambitious, and binding global
climate agreement, with Russia earning a second place fossil for blocking important
text toward a new climate agreement, and Antigua and Barbuda taking first place for,
on the second day in a row, working to keep civil society's voices out of the
negotiations. On a more positive note, many nations spoke out against Saudi Arabia
and Qatar's efforts to find more ways to be paid for lost oil revenues as the world
moves toward cutting fossil fuels' contribution to climate change.

The Fossils as presented read:

"Russia earns the Second place Fossil. This morning, in the contact group on Shared
Vision and in the LCA plenary, Russia did not accept the Facilitator's note becoming
an INF document. By blocking this note from becoming an INF document, Russia
stopped the negotiations on Shared Vision from moving forward, whereas an
agreement on Shared Vision is a key element of a future legally binding instrument on
climate change."

"Today's First place Fossil award goes to Antigua and Barbuda for standing up, yet
again, against increased transparency and engagement of civil society.

In last night's SBI plenary, Antigua and Barbuda continued to raise concerns about a
number of suggested improvements to transparency. At one point, they even claimed
that because they once couldn't find a seat in a meeting room, they couldn't support
increased openness in this process. Perhaps they should listen to their colleagues in
AOSIS, many of whom stood up to show strong support for NGO participation in
their own statements. Should any delegates from Antigua and Barbuda have difficulty
finding somewhere to sit, any CAN member would gladly give up their seat and stand
in the room, so long as the doors are open.

For Antigua and Barbuda's very confusing and extremely disappointing stance against
transparency and civil society participation, we award them the First place Fossil."
"The Ray of the Day goes to Cook Islands, Tonga, EU, Australia, Norway, Suriname,
Switzerland, Colombia, Tuvalu, Mexico, St. Lucia, USA, Singapore, New Zealand,
Barbados, Bolivia, Japan, & The Gambia for jointly and strongly rejecting the
demand by Saudi Arabia, supported by Qatar, to have response measures included in
the SBI conclusions on loss and damage. As per the Bali Action Plan and the Cancún
agreements, response measures has its place under mitigation and should not be dealt
with when it comes to adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change."
_____________________________________________________________________
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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16 June, 2011

A Slew of Fossils and Rays Awarded On Second to Last Day of Bonn Talks
Bonn, Germany – With just over a day left in the United Nations climate change
negotiations here, countries showed they still have plenty of energy left to delay
progress in the fight against climate change, while other nations showed they
recognized how important civil society is in moving the negotiations forward.
Frequent “winner” Saudi Arabia took another Fossil, joined this time by a surprise
blocker, Antigua and Barbuda, for trying to diminish civil society's role in the talks.
Meanwhile, four nations and the European Union earned a rare Ray of the Day for
supporting the very same civil society groups. Both were overshadowed by the fossil
for Japan's renewed refusal to extend its namesake Kyoto Protocol.

The Fossils as presented read:

"The Second place Fossil goes to Saudi Arabia and Antigua and Barbuda for blocking
attempts to enhance NGO participation. Saudi Arabia is a frequent winner of these
awards and really needs no explanation. They have a long history of blocking just
about everything from legal issues to adaptation, agendas to observer participation.
The Saudis should be isolated for their obstructionist ways and not allowed to dictate
text on this or any other issue. As for Antigua & Barbuda, it breaks our heart to give
your individual country the fossil, but to suggest that we would be moving too fast to
allow NGOs to make interventions without submitting written statements in advance
is just ridiculous! In the fight against climate change, speed is of the essence! For
prompting a lack of engagement and transparency, you two get the fossil!"

"Japan earns the First place Fossil. Yesterday, we heard again Japan’s well known
position that it will not inscribe a target under a second period of the Kyoto Protocol
under ANY circumstance. It is very regrettable that we see no room for flexibility.
The Kyoto Protocol second commitment period is the heart of a Durban package and
Japan’s unchanged position will jeopardize the success of the Durban meeting.
Market mechanisms, which Japan favors so much, may not be used anymore if Japan
doesn’t have a target under the Kyoto Protocol. Is this really OK, Japan? Lack of a
target under the international legal framework would weaken implementation of
domestic policies and actions and lose international competitiveness in a low carbon
economy. We don’t really understand."  

"The Ray of the Day goes to a group of countries who have stood strong for
transparency in the face of attacks from countries hoping to hide behind closed doors.
They clearly recognize the productive and important role NGOs play in this process
and have done all they can to suggest improvements, propose compromises, and shine
a light on this process in the hopes of supporting not only civil society but in so doing
also the global effort to address climate change. On a side note, if more Parties had
similar positions on transparency to these, perhaps we could avoid protracted fights
on agendas and other matters in the future, simply in order to avoid embarrassment.
For these actions in support of transparency, accountability and civil society, we
award this Ray of the Day to the EU, Mexico, Bolivia, Philippines, and Australia."
_____________________________________________________________________
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.
###