{"id":19705,"date":"2021-11-09T09:53:11","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T09:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=19705"},"modified":"2021-11-20T18:35:14","modified_gmt":"2021-11-20T18:35:14","slug":"a-crime-against-humanity-the-greenwash-festival-of-cop26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2021\/11\/09\/a-crime-against-humanity-the-greenwash-festival-of-cop26\/","title":{"rendered":"A Crime Against Humanity: The \u2018Greenwash Festival\u2019 of COP26"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following article on the Cop26 UN climate conference being held in Glasgow first appeared on Media Lens<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY: THE ‘GREENWASH’ FESTIVAL OF COP26<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the most damning assessments of COP26, the UN climate conference being held in Glasgow, came from Greta Thunberg<\/strong><\/a>, the Swedish climate activist:<\/p>\n

\u2018#COP26 has been named the must excluding COP ever.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is no longer a climate conference.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a Global North greenwash festival.<\/em><\/p>\n

A two week celebration of business as usual and blah blah blah.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

And, indeed, if you scour news reports from COP26 they yield a familiar litany of political rhetoric and weasel words: vows, pledges, promises, commitments, sign up, phase out, green investment, innovation, transition, progress, scaling up, carbon credits, bending the emissions curve, net zero, 2050, 2070.<\/p>\n

To quote from King Crimson\u2019s\u00a0 Elephant Talk\u2019<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2018Arguments, agreements\u2026 articulate announcements\u2026Brouhaha, balderdash, ballyhoo\u2026It\u2019s only talk\u2026cheap talk\u2026double talk.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Juice Media, the campaign group who \u2018make honest Government ads\u2019,\u00a0exposed<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0the dangerous and misleading nonsense behind \u2018Net Zero by 2050\u2019:<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s a huge gap between our promises and where we need to be. We don\u2019t talk about that gap coz that would entail a complex process called \u201cBeing Honest\u201d. Being Honest would mean admitting that we\u2019re failing. And we can\u2019t do that coz then we\u2019d have to stop failing. That would mean ending fossil-fuel subsidies and banning all new gas, coal and oil projects.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The satirical government ad continued:<\/p>\n

\u2018So being honest isn\u2019t an option for us. Which is why we\u2019ve come up with the next best alternative: Net Zero by 2050\u2026which risks setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond our control.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Nature, the leading science journal,\u00a0reported<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0last week that top climate scientists \u2013 co-authors of a report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change \u2013 are sceptical that nations will rein in global warming. Moreover:<\/p>\n

\u2018Six in ten of the respondents [climate scientists] said that they expect the world to warm by at least 3\u2009\u00b0C by the end of the century, compared with what conditions were like before the Industrial Revolution. That is far beyond the Paris agreement\u2019s goal to limit warming to 1.5-2\u2009\u00b0C.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The news report added:<\/p>\n

\u2018Most of the survey\u2019s respondents \u2013 88% \u2013 said they think global warming constitutes a \u201ccrisis\u201d, and nearly as many said they expect to see catastrophic impacts of climate change in their lifetimes. Just under half said that global warming has caused them to reconsider major life decisions, such as where to live and whether to have children. More than 60% said that they experience anxiety, grief or other distress because of concerns over climate change.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018An Orchestrated PR Scam\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

A powerful\u00a0thread<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0on Twitter by conservationist Stephen Barlow echoed our own experiences and insights from observing climate conferences over three decades:<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m starting to get the impression of COP26 as a contrived stitch up. Where world leaders get to present their inadequate action as fixing the problem. This really is dangerous stuff. You see I remember the 1992 Rio Earth Summit well.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Barlow\u00a0expanded<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2018After the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, political leaders, fossil fuel companies and general vested interest gave the impression the problem was fixed, that there was no need for people to turn to green politics, because mainstream politics had fixed the problem.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018In the following years, in the 1990s, we had oil companies taking out big full page adverts in BBC Wildlife Magazine, National Geographic, etc, saying how they were switching their business model to renewables.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Politicians presented all these rosy views of green growth, all sorts of carbon trading schemes and generally giving off the impression that the problem was fixed, and the future was green.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

He rightly concluded:<\/p>\n

\u2018The problem is, unlike the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, where it took nearly 30 years to find out everything we were promised was a scam and it just kept on getting worse \u2013 in 30 years time (in fact far less) we are going to be in serious trouble.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018This is as evil as it gets. This is an orchestrated PR scam to carry on with business as usual. Where various elements like politicians, the mainstream media, billionaires, royalty and vested interests, combine to maintain business as usual, with fraudulent presentation.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Investigative journalist Nafeez Ahmed, who has repeatedly exposed the reality of UK foreign policy, recently\u00a0reported<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0that the British government is seeking trade deals with carbon-lobbying countries who have attempted to weaken a scientific assessment report being prepared by the IPCC. The countries include Saudi Arabia and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, along with Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Norway and India. Indeed, the UK is actively seeking to promote increased fossil fuel production in nearly all those countries, including Saudi Arabia \u2013 the world\u2019s second largest oil producer.<\/p>\n

Ahmed noted that last month, on the eve of COP26, foreign secretary Liz Truss flew to Saudi Arabia and Qatar to explore a\u00a0potential trade deal<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0with the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

He added:<\/p>\n

\u2018According to<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0the UK Department for International Trade\u2019s\u00a0Exporting Guide to Saudi Arabia, some of the biggest opportunities for UK investment are in expanding the kingdom\u2019s fossil fuel sector.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The export guide proudly states:<\/p>\n

\u2018There are significant opportunities in Saudi Arabia\u2019s energy market for UK businesses, especially in oil and natural gas.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Ahmed continued:<\/p>\n

\u2018Increasing the kingdom\u2019s natural gas production is a particularly lucrative area for UK industry. The DIT notes that Saudi Aramco, the kingdom\u2019s giant oil producer, is exploiting natural gas reserves off the Red Sea coast to support increased domestic demand, which will involve using deep water technologies for drilling below 1,000 metres.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

He summed up:<\/p>\n

\u2018Britain\u2019s intent to ramp up fossil fuel production in partnership with some of the world\u2019s biggest obstructers of climate action raises urgent questions about its role at COP26.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

That is an understatement. Then again, who believes that a\u00a0corrupt<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Tory government \u2013 led by a shambling, elitist, racist,\u00a0serial twister of the truth<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 would ever actually take the serious actions required to tackle the climate emergency?<\/p>\n

\u2018Systematically Corrupted By Vested Interests\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The climate campaign group Insulate Britain, who have blockaded several roads in multiple actions in recent weeks,\u00a0said<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2018As will become clear after COP26, our government has no intention of taking the necessary action to protect its people. It has broken the social contract \u2013 the unwritten agreement in which we agree to obey the government\u2019s laws and in return it will protect us.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

In particular, Insulate Britain:<\/p>\n

\u2018have exposed the government\u2019s refusal to act on home insulation as cowardly and vindictive and their refusal to protect our country and our children from the climate crisis as genocidal and treasonous.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Those are strong words. But climate campaigners from Extinction Rebellion (XR) also\u00a0made clear<\/strong><\/a>that:<\/p>\n

\u2018Nothing on the table in the run up to COP26 has resembled a compassionate and functional response to the crisis. The Climate and Ecological Emergency is a Crime Against Humanity perpetrated by the rich and powerful, and the COP process is systematically corrupted by vested interests \u2013 national, corporate and financial.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The environmentalist group Global Witness assessed that there are more fossil fuel lobbyists present at COP26 than even the largest delegation from any country. They\u00a0reported<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2018At least 503 fossil fuel lobbyists, affiliated with some of the world\u2019s biggest polluting oil and gas giants, have been granted access to COP26, flooding the Glasgow conference with corporate influence.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Moreover, reported Global Witness:<\/p>\n