My only surprise about this is that anyone should be surprised.
I lost all hope that anything would ever happen, not so much from Guy McPherson (although he brought a lot of clarity) but from watching the events at COP-15 in Coenhagen in 2011.
This was the first time when I saw people not allowed into the talks and kept waiting in the snow and activists wanting real action being chased down by the police.
As per usual, material on this has disappeared. Some can be found on Democracy Now! archives.
I also recall NZ's Minister of climate negotiation, Chris Findlayson coming back from Copenhagen and railing against Pacific nations that talked of the real situation in their countries.
Anyone still believing in this process is either a fool or a liar.
Apparently they have reached "agreement" in Poland
Apparently they have reached "agreement" in Poland
Mention
of 'fossil fuels' cut from videos at UN climate talks
14
December, 2018
Videos
produced by environmental groups to be shown to thousands of
participants in a major UN climate summit were banned by organisers
for mentioning fossil fuels, in a move campaigners say amounts to
censorship.
AFP
has obtained emails sent by the United Nations to NGOs asking them to
remove frames referring to "dirty energy" and "pipelines",
claiming that they breached the UN climate convention's rules of
participation.
The
COP24 climate talks, which wrap up Friday in Poland, bring together
more than 20,000 officials, ministers, activists and business
representatives from across the world.
Among
those accredited to observe the process are a host of pressure groups
whose goals vary enormously.
Green
campaigners complain that so-called "business-interest
NGOs"—known as BINGOs—representing big energy firms are
allowed to participate with very little oversight.
They
allege these groups use their industry connections to influence
national negotiators in the process of hammering out a global plan to
limit temperature rises and avert runaway planetary warming.
Environmental
NGOs prepared a series of short films that were destined to be shown
on large screens near the entrance to the sprawling COP24 complex in
the Polish mining city of Katowice.
But
after submitting the films for what they thought would be a pro-forma
review, the UN objected to several frames mentioning fossil
fuel-related activity.
In
one email the UN liaison body asked for a shot containing the words
"dirty energy" to be removed.
It
also asked that the phrases "prohibit participation of fossil
fuel corporations" and "why are politicians still approving
pipelines, coal plants and fracking" be cut.
The
climate convention prohibits "activity derisory to the UN, any
of their member states, organisations or any individual or criticism
that would go against basic rules of decorum".
But
campaigners say their videos did not contravene these guidelines, as
no specific country or company was named.
"The
videos are otherwise of excellent quality and it would be a shame to
exclude these high-quality videos on the basis of one or two short
frames," the UN emailed.
'We're
being silenced'
The
COP24 takes place against the backdrop of the most dire environmental
warnings.
In
October, a landmark report by a UN body of experts, the IPCC,
highlighted for the first time the need to drastically cut fossil
fuel use in order to rein in greenhouse gas emissions.
Exponents
of coal and oil have long argued the world can continue using
carbon-producing fuels as long as the emissions they produce can be
sucked back out of the atmosphere.
The
IPCC suggested the science showed otherwise.
"While
we're being silenced, the same coal, oil and gas companies
responsible for the crisis are allowed to plaster the halls with
their logos and propaganda," Pascoe Sabido, researcher and
campaigner at the Corporate Europe Observatory, told AFP.
"How
can these negotiations help us keep fossil fuels in the ground, like
the IPCC recommends, if we're not even allowed to mention dirty
energy or gas pipelines?"
A
UN spokesman told AFP the organisation had used "our best
judgement to ensure that the videos displayed at this particular site
are suitable".
COP24
host Poland has come in for criticism for enlisting several state-run
coal and energy firms to sponsor the talks.
Another
group was last week prevented from handing out fliers listing coal
company sponsors.
Eilidh
Robb, a volunteer with the UK Youth Climate Coalition said COP24
organisers were cracking down on any mention of fossil fuels.
"There
seems to be a real fear coming from the Polish presidency of naming
both countries or corporations even though they are accredited to be
here," she told AFP.
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