Rich nations accused of climate-change 'bullying'

[xchrom]

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/rich-nations-accused-of-climatechange-bullying-6268679.html

Britain and other rich countries are using aid money as a lever to bully developing countries over climate change, according to a new report by an anti-poverty pressure group.

With international climate change negotiations beginning in South Africa tomorrow, a report by the World Development Movement reveals that threats and bribery are often attached to aid packages.

The report also highlights how wealthy nations use secret meetings to produce last-minute deals – presenting poorer countries with a fait accompli, as happened in Copenhagen two years ago, when delegates had an hour to read the final document drawn up by 26 countries.

The negotiations in Durban are the last chance to set binding targets on greenhouse gas emissions before the Kyoto agreement expires next year.

[Ghost Dog]

1. k&r. We will have to 'go it alone' at more local levels, it seems...

... In a parallel universe where people were rational and facts influenced behaviour, world leaders would be flocking to the United Nations climate negotiations starting in Durban tomorrow to ensure the world agreed collective action to address climate change. Not only are leaders not even turning up, but the chance of a legally binding global deal being agreed is virtually nil, meaning that when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, no successor will be in place.

Worse, major developed country governments now appear united in giving up on reaching any kind of global agreement on climate change until 2016 and in wanting to postpone its entry into force until 2020.

The United States, Canada, Russia and Japan have all voiced their opposition to extending the Kyoto Protocol. They will only agree to new emission reduction targets as part of a global agreement in which major developing countries also pledge to take action. Even then, the US President is in no position to ratify any such agreement through Congress.

Meanwhile, although China and other major emerging economies have domestic low carbon commitments, they object to making them legally binding as part of a global deal. They want the developed world to commit to extending the Kyoto Protocol, because they regard it as the sole means of ensuring developed countries cut greenhouse gas emissions.

...

Even if at end of the summit, some progress is made in some areas, it is hard to be optimistic. But perhaps it is time we stopped disappointing ourselves on an annual basis by pinning all our hopes on a global deal. If change is not being driven by global-level agreements, it is at a country level. There is a genuine sense today that a growing number of countries want to act, to put themselves on a low carbon path, regardless of what happens internationally...

/... http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/simon-retallack/durban-climate-conference-the-only-way-is-bottom-up_b_1114143.html

Greenpeace International released a report on Nov 22, saying a handful of multinational corporations are "exerting undue influence" on the political process in the United States and Canada and other pivotal countries to delay global action on climate change.

The report, "Who's holding us back? How carbon intensive industry is preventing effective climate legislation", says that major corporations and industry associations representing oil and gas companies and other high-polluting sectors in the US, Canada and Europe are leading the lobbying and marketing efforts. Corporations and industry associations even in South Africa, which will host the UN climate change conference from Nov 28 to Dec 9, are part of the lobbying efforts.

In the US alone, industry stakeholders spend about $3.5 billion a year to lobby the government and finance American politicians "who deny" scientific evidence linking human activities to global warming, the Greenpeace report says.

But the Greenpeace report was drowned in the wave generated by "Climategate 2.0", that is, a fresh batch of hacked e-mails on climate change written by scientists of the University of East Anglia in Britain. The leak made climate change skeptics jump to the conclusion that climate scientists were involved in a conspiracy to give a misleading assessment of global warming and reverse the wheels of their countries' economies.

/... http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-11/27/c_131272204.htm

There was fighting talk from Christina Figueures, the head of the talks, as she insisted rich countries need to maintain the only climate change deal in existence - the Kyoto Protocol- that comes to and end in 2013...

... "What is being laid here is the steps for a revolution in every sense of the word," she said. "The way we talk to each other, the way we travel, the way we produce and the way we consume," she said. "There's barely a sector that has a human component that's not being touched by these discussions. If people say there are low expectations, they don't understand the complexity...

... Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International Executive Director from Durban, said other countries should not use the US as an 'excuse' for inaction. As China and India out competes the US economically, he said the rest of the world can also move ahead on green measures.

“To be clear, Africa is already bearing the brunt of the climate gone awry but that’s not enough for the US government. When the Mississippi basin turns to dust they can hang their heads in shame for letting this opportunity slip through their fingers,” he said.

/... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8916405/Durban-Climate-Change-Conference-2011-latest.html

edit: Here's the Greenpeace Report cited by Xinhuanet above:
"... Collectively they spend the equivalent
of the GDP of entire nations, to block progress on climate
legislation, and ensure that fossil fuel and nuclear subsidies
continue to give unfair advantages to dirty energy, above
the safe, clean renewable energy future the public
demands. This report shows beyond a shadow of a doubt
that a handful of carbon-intensive companies who stand to
benefit from inaction have been holding us back, and the
politicians who choose to act on their behalf.
In this report, we document the tricks of the trade that
polluting corporations use to pull the strings of our
politicians and mislead the public. We expose the web of
influence that sees these companies pit our leaders and
entire countries against each other to hold back action on
the climate..."

[xchrom]

2. +1

[kristopher]

4. +1

[PETRUS]

3. More exploitation by the 1%