By dictating US Energy Policy, Exxon dictates world energy policy.
As Heads of State made beautiful speeches about the need for
action on climate change, the 300-strong US delegation in the
backrooms of the summit held the future to ransom, forcing
delegates to accept that the US would only agree to stump up money
for clean water if the world gave up on renewable energy. Behind
that insistence was US Energy policy, authored by the big oil
interests that elected Bush and Cheney.
"After over a year of debate the WSSD energy section does not
represent a single step forward," said Greenpeace Climate Policy
Director Steve Sawyer. "The Plan of Action is not much of a plan,
and it contains almost no action. We've spent the last year and
half doing damage control. We now have to move forward with a
'coalition of the willing,' those countries, communities,
organisations, and people who want to deliver a sustainable energy
future."
The energy section of the plan of implementation, as it was
agreed:
--Delivers nothing on energy supply for the 2 billion people
world-wide who have no access to modern energy services;
--Has no targets or timetables of any kind for the uptake of
renewable energy;
--Delivers nothing on reducing the massive subsidies to the
fossil fuel industry which continue to prop up its dominance of the
global energy mix;
--Merely reiterates agreements made over the past several
years.
Both the European Union and Brazil came to the Summit with
proposals for firm targets on renewable energy. While varying in
the degree to which they would have spurred investment in renewable
energies like solar, wind, small-scale hydro, and modern biomass,
either would have sent a strong signal to governments that the
Summit was serious about the battle against global warming.
The pacts, and indeed any suggestion of firm targets and
timelines for renewables invstment were consistently opposed by
Saudi Arabia, the US, Japan, Australia, and Canada.
Norway, Brazil, New Zealnd, Switzerland, Iceland, and some
members of the EU had pushed hard for clearer targets, but in the
end could only express their dismay.
Greenpeace Executive Director Gerd Leipold said, "Many Heads of
States have made fine speeches saying that climate change was the
number one challenge facing our planet. What has this summit done
about it? Absolutely nothing. By its own standards, the WSSD has
failed. Our challenge now is to shine a spotlight so that everyone
can see the forces that are responsible for that failure. And
that's the unholy alliances between big business and governments
that allow our planet's future and the poverty of humanity to take
a back seat to the corporate bottom line.
Bush talks about the Axis of evil, but he's involved Axis of
oil."