In what’s being described as “a truly remarkable tour de farce,” the US has earned first place in the Fossil of the Day award for the third day straight.
This time, the award was bestowed upon the esteemed delegation from the US for inserting “X %” as an alternative to the science-based targets currently in the draft text of a climate deal. This “X” is meant to represent voluntary pledges by countries, replacing concrete binding emissions reductions targets.
We’re at a critical point here, and nothing less than concrete, science-based targets will achieve the emissions reductions we need to avert catastrophic global warming. But the US is trying to move us in the direction of letting countries do whatever the hell they feel like, not what’s necessary.
Triggering unpleasant flashbacks of the Bush era, the US is also promoting a plan to abandon science-based targets altogether and instead wants a ‘pledge and review’ system, where everyone puts a voluntary target on the table, those targets are added up, and that number is used as the overall target. So my money says the US can keep the streak alive — but for the sake of us all, let's hope I'm wrong.
If you haven't already signed the petition telling world leaders it's time to sign a real deal now, you can do so here. More than 13 million folks have signed so far — help us get to 15 million!