'Who Rules the World? Fossil Fuel Industry or the People?'
Global coal conference targeted by climate activists in Warsaw
Published on Monday, November 18, 2013 by Common Dreams
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/11/18-0
--0--
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/11/18-4
Published on Monday, November 18, 2013 by Common Dreams
UN Climate Chief Slammed for Pushing Coal as Solution in Poland
Once again campaigners are forced to remind world leaders: "There is
no such thing as clean coal"
- Lauren McCauley, staff writer
Speaking before an assembly of lobbyists and corporate heads at a
global coal industry conference in Warsaw, Poland Monday, United
Nations Climate Chief Christiana Figueres has spurred the ire of
environmentalists as she characterized the leading greenhouse gas
emitters as possible leaders in a clean energy future.
"The coal industry has the opportunity to be part of the worldwide
climate solution," Figueres said in her keynote address before the
summit of the World Coal Association.
Complimenting the "knowledge and experience" of the gathered coal
executives as an asset to be utilized in the effort to keep global
warming beneath the two degree Celsius limit agreed to by the
international community, Figueres vowed that her position was not "a
call for the immediate disappearance of coal."
Figueres' address defied the request of green groups who asked that
she boycott the summit. As Sophie Yeo of RTCC.org reports, climate
campaigners have repeatedly said the presence of the coal groups is a
provocation and a distraction from the COP19 UN climate conference
that is also being held in Warsaw this week.
During the address, Figueres recommended a set of "fundamental
parameters" for what she described as "green" transition for coal.
Her recommendations included closing all existing "subcritical"
plants and implementing "safe" Carbon Capture Use and Storage (CCUS)
technology on all new plants, which environmental groups have been
long-critical of.
In a turn that environmentalists such as 350.org spokesperson Jamie
Henn heralded as a step in the right direction, during the speech
Figueres also called upon the coal industry to leave "most existing"
reserves of coal in the ground.
"The good news about the speech is that if you read it closely, it
basically spells the end of coal," Henn told Common Dreams in an
emailed statement. "The Secretary told the industry to shutdown dirty
plants and keep coal in the ground. The bad news is she softened the
blow with fantasies about carbon capture and so-called 'clean coal.'"
Henn added that her presence at the coal summit legitimized what he
called an "industry greenwashing extravaganza" in an "unnecessary
way."
Following the speech, John Gummer, chair of the UK government's
climate advisers and former UK environment minister, tweeted:
And outside the summit, protesters donned face masks of Figueres'
image and held banners reading, "There is no such thing as clean
coal." They also carried a pair of large, inflatable lungs to
highlight the "huge health impacts and costs to climate."
"The conference is a desperate attempt by the coal industry to
greenwash their industry," writes 350.org's Hoda Baraka, who took
part in the action along with representatives from groups including
the Polish Youth Climate Network, CEE Bank Watch, Corporate Europe
Observatory, Klima Allianz, 350.org, Tools For Action, and the
#Cough4Coal Initiative.
"Our movement's demand is clear: an immediate phase out of all coal
technologies and a shift of investments towards energy technologies
that respect peoples' health, the climate and environment," Baraka
continued. "Dirty fuel sources like coal have no place in a 21st
century clean energy economy; this reality can no longer be ignored."
The protest was part of a day of action in Warsaw which began with
Greenpeace dropping a banner which read, "Who rules the world? Fossil
Industry or the People?" on the Polish Ministry of Economy building
where the coal industry summit is being held.
_______________________________________________
Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list
Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org
http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel
