Activists at the UN climate conference (COP29) in Baku awarded the European Union (EU) the “fossil of the day” this Wednesday, a satirical award with which they criticize European actions.
The “prize” was awarded because the EU did not present a figure on what it hopes to mobilize to contribute to the new global climate finance goal.
Environmentalists, grouped in the “Climate Action Network” (CAN, an international network that brings together almost 2,000 organizations), award “prizes” at each UN climate summit. With the “fossils of the day” they target countries/entities that, in their opinion, are not showing ambition in the negotiations.
Environmentalists award one of these awards, which are shaped like a dinosaur head, every day of the second week of the COP, which hosts debates of a more political nature, in which ministers negotiate how to confront the climate crisis and its consequences. . implications.
Until now, Italy, the entire G7, South Korea and Russia had received the award. Switzerland (which received the “dishonorable mention”) and the EU joined the list this Wednesday.
At the awards ceremony, in which one activist dressed as a dinosaur and another as a skeleton, criticized Switzerland for being particularly “silent” in some negotiations on climate financing, taking into account that the country has one of the most powerful financial systems in the world.
But the “fossil of the day”, the top prize of the daily satirical gala, went to the EU for not having yet shared a value with which it hopes to mobilize for the new climate crowdfunding objective negotiated by COP29, the so-called “New Collective Objective Quantified” (NCQG).
While countries in the Global South demand a goal of 1.3 billion dollars a year until 2030and UN-commissioned economic analyzes estimate that the developing world will need to receive at least $1 trillion per year to cover the costs of climate transition and adaptation, the EU has not put forward a proposal.
Two days before the end of COP29, rich countries are invited to contribute between 440,000 and 900,000 million dollars a year in aid, figures that will be debated this Wednesday to unblock the negotiations.
Developed countries have not yet commented on the amount they are willing to contribute.
In line with the Paris Agreement’s principle of common but differentiated responsibilities – according to which the rich countries most responsible for global warming must do everything possible to combat climate action – “the EU should lead with ambition,” said the dressed activist. of skeleton.
Source: Observadora
