UN climate summit: a fool’s paradise
NEW YORK CITY, USA, September 23, 2014 – Commenting on statements made at the Climate Summit in New York City today, Friends of the Earth International Climate Justice and Energy coordinator Dipti Bhatnagar said: “The Climate Summit was a fool’s paradise out of touch with the climate emergency we are facing. The finance pledges tabled at the Summit had no specifics, no timelines, and nothing saying if they are about new and additional climate finance or simply aid pledged in the past and diverted from its original destination.”
Norway’s Statoil oil giant stated today that fossil fuels will remain the core of our energy mix.
“Polluters like Statoil and Shell are unwilling to change and their influence is undermining the UN and our governments. Scientists are telling us that renewables, not fossil fuels, must become the core of our future energy mix, starting now, in order to avoid the worst the climate crisis may bring,” added Dipti Bhatnagar.
Six energy companies announced today that they have signed a pact to curb methane emissions. “The energy companies pact is a purely voluntary pact: they are not under obligation to disclose their emissions. This pact is just one additional half-baked corporate measure, a drop in the ocean when it comes to saving the climate. But it will surely help companies greenwashing their dirty image,” added Dipti Bhatnagar.
Commenting on President Obama’s speech, Dipti Bhatnagar added:
“President Obama’s statements at the Summit bordered on fantasy when he claimed that the US has been taking ambitious action to stop climate change. Obama derailed the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009 insisting on meaningless voluntary pledges instead of binding commitments. Five years on, the US government is still acting as a ‘business prevention unit’ at UN climate talks, consistently preventing global action to stop climate change.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Dipti Bhatnagar, Friends of the Earth International Climate Justice and Energy coordinator: +258 840 356 599 (Mozambique mobile) or email dipti@foei.org
NOTES TO EDITORS
For more information on the Climate Summit see https://www.foei.org/news/climate-summit-world-leaders-fiddle-while-the-planet-burns/
