Fossil of the Day Award at COP26 awarded to US, France and IEATA

First Fossil Award goes to the United States of America (USA)

United States President Joe Biden, supported by the UK Government and others, launched the new ‘AIM for Climate’ (AIM4C) initiative at the World Leaders Summit innovation event.Did Joe think we’d be stuck in the line too long to notice that this is a sneaky scheme to reframe industrial agriculture and disruptive technologies as climate action? Come on Joe, we’re not confused by lines, just frustrated.

So it’s crystal clear that it’s the opposite and goes against any principles of justice, sustainable development and food security. Biden’s ‘gift’ is really part of a cunning ploy to exclude farmers from agriculture – they don’t even get a mention on AIM4C’s website – and replace them with robots, gene-edited seeds and boost technology profits for the buddies in Silicon Valley.

AIM4C could also be a poisoned chalice for food policy, increasing energy use, pollution and strengthening the very industrial food chain that is harming the climate as the agri-giants redefine themselves as ag-tech and newcomers like Microsoft and Amazon begin to shuffle into the digital agriculture arena.

The second Fossil Award goes to France

According to President Macron, La France is one of the world climate leaders. They’re walking the walk and talking the talk – are part of the High Ambition Coalition and the French Development Agency even announced they were officially phasing out all fossil fuels, including gas, from their activities to get their finance flows aligned with the Paris alignment. So far so good.

But hold on – zut alors! – word has reached us from AFP that all may not be as it seems. Apparently, they’re pushing for the integration of fossil gas and nuclear as ‘sustainable’ energies in the EU taxonomy. With partners in crime such as Poland, they’re trying to destroy the classification system for sustainable investments inside the EU. If their devious plan works, billions of euros, supposedly dedicated to the green transition, could flow to almost half of existing fossil gas power plants in Europe as they will be classed as “green” investment. This is madness and threatens the very implementation of the Green Deal in Europe and globally.

The Third Fossil Award goes to the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA)

And third in today’s line up of shame is …the IETA

Their digital hamsters have boldly tweeted that they “represent fossil fuel companies such as Chevron, Shell and BP and have a delegation over 100-strong.”

These dinosaurs have been a thorn in the UNFCCC’s side from the get go. The UNFCCC’s failure and the human misery and environmental destruction this leads to, is a ticked box for them. It should be a mark of shame, not pride, that IETA gives cover to these planetary destroyers in their delegation.

And it hasn’t gone unnoticed that the big fossils are eyeing up carbon markets to give a thorough greenwash to their polluting activities with an endless supply of cheap offsets. A big fat Fossil Award for you too.