Feature story - November 9, 2010
Against a backdrop of one of the hottest years on record, with fires, floods and storms, G20 leaders must honour the promises they made a year ago on taking climate action: cutting fossil fuel subsidies and helping the world to kickstart a green economy.
As the only African country to participate, the South African delegation has the responsibility and opportunity to push the G20 into decisive actions on climate change, while it should also stop its dependency on fossil fuels domestically.
Malawi Famine Documentation
Farmers show their destroyed maize crop following drought throughout the Southern Cone of Africa.
But the G20 meeting, to be held in Seoul this week, looks as though it may even backtrack on its previous statements on climate.
“This G20 is supposed to give a strong signal of support for the upcoming climate talks in Cancun, but instead we understand there are moves afoot to backtrack on commitments made a year ago,” said Patricia Lerner, Greenpeace International Senior Political Advisor.
A Greenpeace Checklist
Greenpeace has issued a checklist of four key criteria for a successful G20. It calls for leaders to honour their promises on climate, and to close the gap between current emission reduction commitments and what the climate science demands.
Leaders must also create the financial and regulatory conditions that incentivise a green economy, and agree on the indicators and reporting mechanisms needed to monitor progress.
Fossil Fuel Subsidies
Activists Occupy Stena Don Oil Rig, Arctic
Here activists occupy the Stena Don oil-rig in the Arctic. By just stopping drilling for just a short time, Cairn Energy struggled to meet a tight deadline to complete the exploration before winter ice conditions forced it to abandon the search for oil off Greenland until next year.
08/31/2010
G20 leaders also committed to phasing-out subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. In order to track this, Greenpeace has released an initial investigation into Government subsidies in five countries: Brazil, Canada, Mexico, the UK and the US.
The report reveals a lack of transparency around these subsidies, and finds that governments are still providing far too little information for a proper public debate on high-cost oil subsidies to take place.
Greenpeace’s call to the G20 leaders is that they must agree to switch priorities from subsidising fossil fuels to fast-tracking significant funds so the world’s poorest countries can adapt to climate change, switch to a clean energy economies and stop deforestation. This is of particular importance for African countries where climate change is expected to have the largest impact.
Government Commitments
“These governments have a choice: they can lead the world to a clean energy future, safe from the ravages of climate change – or they can continue to subsidise the oil industry and accept the human and economic consequences of dangerous climate change. Do taxpayers really want their hard earned money squandered on subsidizing high risk ventures when there are safer, cleaner options? Why are they not looking at how we can invest in solar, wind and other renewable energy options in Africa” Lerner asked