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Fossil-PressRelease-Panama-Oct4.pdf

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Panama 2011

First Place Fossil Goes to the USA, while Saudi Arabia Earns Its Second Second Place Fossil

Submitted by MBrockley on October 4, 2011 - 7:21pm

Photo Credit: Adopt a Negotiator

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4 October 2011
Panamá City, Panamá

Contact:
David Turnbull
dturnbull@climatenetwork.org
Home mobile: +12023162499
Local mobile: (+507) 64751851

First place Fossil is awarded to the USA. There are three excellent reasons to award today's first prize Fossil to the United States:

First, recent news has surfaced that the US State Department has a bias towards carbon polluting pipelines--namely, the Keystone XL, which is a 1,700-mile fuse to the largest Carbon bomb on the planet, the Alberta tar sands. The State Department is currently conducting a review for the pipeline, but has been receiving significant counsel from the pipeline company's own lobbyists.

Exploiting the tar sands is a dangerous step in the wrong direction, and one that President Obama will decide upon before the year is out. This troubling relationship obscures the fact that saying no to Keystone XL is a positive step for the US to demonstrate seriousness in face of the climate crisis.

Given this bias, it's no wonder there is further cause to award the US a Fossil. In today’s LCA discussion on legal form, the U.S. expressed its unwillingness to reach agreement on a mandate. To sum up, the US doesn't think the likely outcome would suit them, so they would rather not bother continuing the discussion. The US expressed that a strong mandate is in fact in the US interest, but expending the energy to reach it appears not to be.

Finally, yesterday's finance informal resulted in the US stating that no discussion of sources of finance should continue, but rather, proceed into the g20 as a venue. The US is only interested in discussing the standing committee--which is only one of four important areas of focus to ensure adequate financing. Innovative sources of financing are crucial and should be taken up here.

For these three reasons, we award the United States a first-prize Fossil.

Saudi Arabia gets the 2nd place Fossil of the Day for attempting to block the Chair of the Legal Options Informal Group from outlining the options on legal form. Hmmm - let's go over that one, one more time - the Saudis do not want the Chair, who has been mandated by Parties to convene a group to talk about legal options, to talk about legal options?? Come on! A mandate is a mandate and progress in this group on legal form is crucial to a successful outcome in Durban. Luckily, the Chair is well aware of her mandate and will proceed with the discussions on options tomorrow. Good on her! A legally binding agreement is the highest form of commitment and with an issue as serious and as pressing as climate change, the highest form of commitment is sorely needed from all countries. The first step to getting there and bridging the divide is to have a clear overview of the options currently on the table in terms of legal form and where countries stand on them. We are looking forward to the continued discussions tomorrow, but without any further procedural shenanigans!

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Fossil-PressRelease-Panama-Oct3.pdf

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Panama 2011

Japan Takes First Place Fossil Of The Day Award At Panamá Climate Talks, While Denmark Receives The Ray Of The Day

Submitted by MBrockley on October 3, 2011 - 7:13pm

Photo Credit: Adopt A Negotiator

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 3 October 2011
Panamá City, Panamá

Contact:
David Turnbull
dturnbull@climatenetwork.org
Home mobile: +12023162499
Local mobile: (+507) 64751851

Japan Takes First Place Fossil Of The Day Award At Panamá Climate Talks, While Denmark Receives The 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.

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CAN_Advisory_Bonn_UNFCCC_June_17.pdf

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Panama 2011

Russia & Antigua and Barbuda Earn Fossils, Many Nations Receive Joint Ray

Submitted by MBrockley on June 17, 2011 - 12:23pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 17 June 2011
Contact:
Kyle Gracey
kylegracey@gmail.com
+1 814 659 2405

Russia & Antigua and Barbuda Earn Fossils, Many Nations Receive Joint Ray
Bonn, Germany – 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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Fossil_of_the_Day_-_Bonn_-_Jun_16_2011.pdf

A Slew of Fossils and Rays Awarded On Second to Last Day of Bonn Talks

Submitted by dturnbull on June 16, 2011 - 12:49pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 16 June 2011
Contact:
Kyle Gracey
kylegracey@gmail.com
+1 814 659 2405

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.
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Fossil_of_the_Day_-_Bonn_-_Jun_14_2011.pdf

Fossil of the Day Awards - Bonn - June 14, 2011: India Earns First place (and only) Fossil of the Day

Submitted by dturnbull on June 15, 2011 - 3:39am

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 14 June 2011
Contact:
Kyle Gracey
kylegracey@gmail.com
+1 814 659 2405

India Earns First place (and only) Fossil of the Day

Bonn, Germany – Alone among countries shamed for doing the most to block
progress in the United Nations climate negotiations today, India earned the first and
only place Fossil for supporting nuclear power as a “clean” option under the UN's
Clean Development Mechanism, 3 months and 3 days after the Fukushima crisis.

The Fossil as presented read:

“The first place fossil goes to India for supporting the inclusion of nuclear energy in
the Clean Development Mechanism in Monday's AWG-KP mechanism spin-off
group. In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, we don't understand why
anyone would want to go down that expensive and dangerous path when other
options, such as renewables, are available. The CDM is supposed to support
sustainable development, so let's develop safely, sustainably and in a climate-friendly
way.”
_____________________________________________________________________
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

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Fossil_of_the_Day_-_Bonn_-_Jun_13_2011.pdf

Saudi Arabia Take First Place, Qatar Earns Second

Submitted by MBrockley on June 13, 2011 - 12:09pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 13 June 2011
Contact:
Kyle Gracey
kylegracey@gmail.com
+1 814 659 2405

Saudi Arabia Take First Place, Qatar Earns Second
Bonn, Germany – It was a neighborly Fossil awards ceremony the second Monday of
the Bonn climate negotiations, as “next door” countries Saudi Arabia and Qatar swept
the nominations. Saudi Arabia took first for trying to delay discussions on addressing
losses and damages from climate change impacts in developing countries. Close
behind them in the voting, Qatar earned second place for trying to direct oil taxes
away from low-carbon transport development and toward their own coffers.

The Fossils as presented read:

“The Second place Fossil goes to Qatar for suggesting that they should be
compensated for the tax that developed countries add onto Qatari oil.
At the Joint SBSTA/SBI Meeting on impact of the implementation of response
measure, Qatar presented a graph and emphasised that taxes in developed countries
add more to the selling price of oil than their wholesale price. For example, in the UK
oil's initial price is $200 and the tax is $850; that sums to $1,050. Then Qatar had the
gall to suggest that if developed countries were to give the tax amount to Qatar, then
Qatar is happy to provide the oil for free. This tax money should clearly be spent on
developing green alternatives to carbon based transport and to deal with the problems
that carbon based transport creates – health, environmental, etc. – not to compensate
oil producing countries. Any potential future COP host would know that (hint hint).”

“The First place Fossil is awarded to Saudi Arabia. In discussions on the loss and
damage work programme, Saudi Arabia argued that the Parties did not need to agree
on activities until COP18 – 18 months from now! The Cancun Agreements
established a work programme to enable Parties to take a decision on loss and damage
itself – not the work programme. Debating the activities of a work programme for 18
months is akin to debating an agenda for 18 months…and we’ve seen enough debates
on agendas.”
_____________________________________________________________________
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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Fossil of the Day Awards - Bonn - June 11, 2011

Submitted by MBrockley on June 12, 2011 - 12:02pm

11_06_11_Fossil.pdf

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 11 June 2011
Bonn, Germany

Contact:
David Turnbull
dturnbull@climatenetwork.org
USA: +12023163499
Germany: +49(0)2523657307

Japan wins first place fossil and the second place fossil goes to, Well, We Aren’t
Sure.

First Place Fossil is awarded to Japan. Today Japan reiterated their position of
supporting the inclusion of nuclear facilities to CDM. Today, June 11th, the three-
month anniversary since the tragic earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear disaster,
saw thousands of Japanese people demonstrating against nuclear energy in more than
100 cities all across Japan. It is hard to believe that Japan has not changed its position
of including nuclear facilities into CDM, even after this tragic event. We urge Japan
to listen to its own people and come up with a new position right away. Japan can
actually lead the discussion and persuade others to exclude nuclear from the CDM!

The second placed fossil goes to...well we aren't exactly sure. Flying in the face of
enhanced NGO participation, an important focus of this session, and the mantra of
transparency, 'an unknown Party or group of Parties' approached the Chair to block
the valiant efforts of Ambassador De Alba to open the LCA informal on legal issues
on Friday afternoon. Not only do we need fair, ambitious and legally binding efforts
to save our dear planet, those discussions should take place in an open and transparent
manner. Just as we have supported the call for Parties not intending to commit to a
second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to come clean with their intentions,
we expect the same level of transparency with respect to legally binding intentions
under the LCA - and that starts with opening the informal to observers. For your non-
transparent ways, this Party or group of Parties gets an Anonymous Fossil. Is anyone
willing to accept the award?

About CAN: The Climate Action Network (CAN) is a worldwide network of roughly
700 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working to promote government and
individual action to limit human0induced 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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A fossil hat trick for Canada at the UN climate talks: if only the 'other' Canucks had such luck

Submitted by MBrockley on June 9, 2011 - 12:35pm

11_06_09_Fossil.pdf

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9 June 2011
Bonn, Germany

Contact:
Hannah McKinnon
hmckinnon@climateactionnetwork.ca
Mobile: +1 613 276 7791
T: +1 613 241 4413

A fossil hat trick for Canada at the UN climate talks: if only the 'other' Canucks had such luck.

First Place Fossil is awarded to Canada. Guess what sector is Canada’s fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions? That would be the tar sands, where emissions from digging up dirty oil have close to tripled since 1990.

Now guess which sector Canada decided not to report on in its most recent National Inventory Report? Yes, that would be the tar sands again...How could Canada’s government leave out such a crucial sector, you may ask? Well, when Canadian journalists did some digging, they found that tar sands emissions were higher than ever last year. We can’t let Canada’s oil-loving government slide off the hook for that little slip-up. For their tarry approach to transparency, we award Canada today’s first place fossil.

Canada also takes the Second Place Fossil. We’ve all seen it coming, but now Canada has made it official: they’re not willing to take a legally binding target under a second phase of Kyoto. Of course, it’s not like Canada contributed much to the first phase of Kyoto — their decision to walk away without even trying to hit their target puts them at the bottom of the Kyoto class.

The harsh truth? Canada’s track record of climate inaction shows that they need a binding target more than anyone. For failing to recognize that, and undermining this process in the process, we award Canada a second place fossil.

Third Place Fossil Goes to…Canada. While appreciating Canada's cajones (that is "courage" in Spanish) to make a presentation at today's mitigation workshop, the refusal to acknowledge what everyone else in Bonn knows has earned Canada today's
3rd place fossil. For a long time it has been clear that Canada will not meet it's Kyoto target, yet in response to repeated questions this morning the best Canada could offer was that they could not possibly know until the end of the true up period in 2014. Canada must have its head stuck in the tar sands of Alberta.

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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