Brazil took first place in yesterday’s fossil award competition for its hard line and spurious rationale in selfishly preventing the use of Article 9 to strengthen and broaden climate protection efforts in the post-2012 period. In spite of the urgency of the problem and inadequacy of existing responses, Brazil insisted on a narrow, legalistic interpretation of the Protocol text. Its effort was aimed at fragmenting discussions under the various negotiating tracks, and delaying any serious discussion of how developing countries can contribute to a comprehensive strategy using the Kyoto Protocol and Climate Convention. Without a strong negotiation process under Article 9, there is no chance of getting global emissions trends moving in a direction compatible with preventing dangerous climate change.

The EU was voted into second place for “supporting” carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the Clean Development Mechanism and siding with OPEC countries. CCS technology is yet to be proven and many issues, including monitoring and verification and liability, need to be developed before it is considered for inclusion in the CDM. CCS in the CDM could squeeze out investment in technologies that support sustainable development like renewables and energy efficiency.

Traditional fossil stronghouse, the US, came in third place for blocking the submission of a Secretariat paper to the deforestation contact group. The paper was supposed to highlight common elements of the different policy approaches submitted by Parties. It seems inconceivable progressive negotiations can move forward without a sensible and specific examination of the commodities and differences between policy approaches.