Day 2 of UN climate summit - Canada earns 3rd fossil award

Canada is awarded first place Fossil of the Day for proposing ‘eventual solutions’ for ‘urgent problems’

Durban, South Africa (29 Nov 2011) - Canada has been awarded its second first place Fossil of the Day awards on the second day of climate change negotiations in Durban, South Africa.

Canada was awarded this dishonour for proposing ‘eventual solutions’ for ‘urgent problems’, while calling for ‘action’. This “prize”, given to countries who are blocking progress at the United Nations climate summit, is awarded daily by a coalition of 700 leading international NGOs.

The text for the presentation of the award is as follows:

Canadian environment Minister Kent said yesterday to media that: "There is an urgency to this. We don't need a binding convention, what we need is action and a mandate to work on an eventual binding convention."

What can we say. He nailed the first sentence!

The second half needs some work: In order to address an urgent problem, we need a mandate to work on an eventual solution?

Like Canada’s plans to address its GHG emissions – this just doesn’t add up! Canada has made many empty promises over recent years, and continues to have no plan that comes close to achieving our weak targets.

Canada has agreed to keeping global warming below 2 degrees in Copenhagen, they have said they understand the need to close the gigatonne gap as soon as possible, and they claim to take the climate crises seriously. *** But action is for everyone else! ***

To quote a panelist at today’s CAN international press conference: “Canada is quickly becoming a bad joke at these negotiations.”

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE